LIVING ON A HIGHWIRE
by smiley060499
Summary: WHEN BAND LEMONADE MOUTH GOES ON THEIR VERY FIRST TOUR EVER THEY ENCOUNTER SOME UNPLEASANT THINGS, BUT WHEN ONE BAND MEMBER GOES MISSING AND ANOTHER IS IN THE HOSPITAL WHAT WILL THEY DO NOW? WHO IS BEHIND IT ALL? CAN THEY REALLY TRUST ANYONE?


CHAPTER

1

**Olivia POV**

I practically skipped down the hallway as I grabbed my book bag and schoolbooks out of my locker, for the last day of my third year in High School. I didn't notice Stella sneak up behind me. "Let me guess; you found a cure for cancer. Or you made world peace. No, wait, I have this one: You won the lottery!" She started jumping up and down next to me. "Oh, Liv, I am so happy for you!" She exclaimed.

I rolled my eyes at her. "Hey, Stella," She stopped jumping and smiled at me. "Hey. I haven't seen you all day!" She said hugging me. I smiled; Stella always knew how to brighten someone's day. Not that my day needed any brightening. "We sat together at lunch, remember?" I asked her, loading all of my books into my bag as I headed for the door.

Stella followed me. "I know that look, and that tone of voice. Something happened between you and Wen. What's up? Are you guys official, or what?" She asked, shaking my arm. I shook my head, but I was still smiling. I would never understand that girl. "Okay," I finally squealed. "Wen wants to make it official tonight. He is going to take me out on a special date before we go on tour!" I screamed. Stella screamed along with me and we started jumping up and down together.

"What happened, did someone finally decide to give your lame ass band a break? Ha, like that could ever happen. Forget I ever said anything." Ray said as he passed by us. Stella looked as if she wanted to punch him in his face. She started walking towards him, but I pulled her back towards me. "Come on, I don't want a fight to ruin my perfect mood! Are we still on for practice today?" I asked, trying to distract her. That did the trick. "Of course we are! It's our last practice before we head on tour. Besides, we _have _to let Mo know about this. She'll be psyched!" Stella exclaimed excitedly. I smiled at her enthusiasm. I knew that she was excited about Wen and me finally getting together. I started walking towards Gran's house.

"Remember, twenty minutes!" Stella yelled after me. I smiled and waved at her, so she would know that I had heard her.

"I can't focus. I am way too excited!" Mo announced as she stopped playing her bass and put it down. "I mean, how many high school students get to go on _tour _in the middle of the year?" She asked, looking between the six of us. "You're right, I can't focus either." Charlie agreed, setting his drumsticks down after a moment.

Stella sighed as she stopped playing her guitar. We all knew that she hated to stop rehearsing, because she was so obsessed with us sounding perfect. In a way, she was like our manager. I actually think that she is. "You're right. You guys wanna go get an ice cream or something?" She asked. Scott had his arm around Mo, and he whispered something in her ear as she laughed and turned up to kiss him. "Oh, barf." Charlie moaned as he got up from his drum set. We all laughed and Mo stuck her tongue out at Charlie. They had actually been really good friends ever since she and Scott back together, if they ever were apart. They got too confusing. I hoped that wouldn't happen with Wen and me.

Wen nodded with a smirk. "We could all go for a cone. It is way too hot today." He said, getting up from the keyboard and looked longingly out the window at the pool that sat outside of Stella's home. Stella smiled at him. "Why don't you, Scott and Charlie ahead outside, and we'll meet you there. We have some….girl business to take care of." She said with an evil grin. Charlie walked out of the door without hesitation, waving to all of us before he left, but Scott and Wen looked almost afraid to leave Mo and me with Stella and her craziness, but they headed outside anyway. "See you later guys," Wen called, as he gave me a shy grin. As soon as they heard the door close Mo and Stella jumped on me, mostly Mo, seeing as Stella pretty much knew what was going on.

"What was that smile about?" Mo asked. I sighed, but I was still smiling. I always had to smile when he subject came to Wen. In a way he reminded me of…sunshine, especially with that red hair that I _loved. _"Oh, you saw that…." I said quietly, hoping that she wouldn't hear me.

"Are you crazy?" Stella asked, jumping over to us. "How could we have _not _seen that? It was so obvious!" She practically screamed. I glared at her. "What?" She asked innocently. "Mom and Dad aren't home, and neither are the twins. Mo was going to find out anyways….and why wouldn't you want her to know?" She asked me curiously. "What happened, Olivia?" Mo asked, sounding a bit hurt that I hadn't told her anything. "Well, you know how Wen and I have been going out on dates for a while?" I asked, sliding closer to her. She nodded, a smile growing across her face as if she knew what I was going to say. "So, Wen wants to take me out tonight to make it official before we go on tour." I finished. Mo pulled me into a hug. "I am so happy for you!" She exclaimed. "Don't be upset that I told Stella before you. I knew that you had already left with Scott, and Stella was right there…." My voice trailed off. Mo gave me a funny look. "Oh, I understand. Stella is _everywhere_…" She laughed. "Hey!" Stella exclaimed, popping up behind us. We all started laughing. "I see your point," I agreed with Mo.

CHAPTER

2

**Olivia POV**

"You were right Wen; this is the perfect day for ice cream." Stella sighed as she leaned back in her chair and licked her three-scoop ice cream cone. We all chuckled at her as one of the scoops fell onto her shirt. "A perfect day for eating ice cream or wearing the ice cream?" Charlie smirked as he handed Stella a pile of napkins. She blushed like crazy.

Wen glanced down at his watch. "Uh, I gotta be somewhere. See you guys tomorrow?" He asked. "Hell, yeah!" Stella exclaimed loudly, as she rubbed the napkins all over her chest. I could tell that Wen was trying not to laugh, just like the rest of us. "Tomorrow is when we take off on tour! Of course we are gonna see you!" She said. Wen laughed and headed away, giving me another grin before he left. I made the mistake of turning to look at Stella and Mo, who were both giving me stupid looks.

"So," Charlie started. "I hear that you and Wen have a date tonight," He started picking at his ice cream cone with a spoon. My head snapped up at him and I instantly turned to look at Stella and Mo. They held their hands up as if to say that they hadn't done anything. "How did you know that?" I practically growled at him. Charlie's eyebrows rose as he chuckled at me, and soon Scott joined in. "What?" I asked, feeling self-conscious. "Olivia, he talks about you _all_ of the time!" Charlie exclaimed as he gasped for breath in between laughs. They both stopped in a manner of seconds, especially Scott, who had Mo giving him dirty looks. "Really?" I blushed. "He does?" Scott nodded. "All of the time. Whenever you guys are around. Earlier when Stella banished us," He gave a pointed look at Stella, who was smiling broadly, "He couldn't shut up about the date he had planned tonight, and if we thought it was too lame…" His voice trailed off. "I told you!" Stella exclaimed loudly. People were starting to stare at us.

"Oh, my god," Mo breathed. "What is it, Mo?" Scott asked, pulling her closer to him. "What are you going to wear?" She asked me wide eyed. Charlie and Stella chuckled at the same time, which cause Stella to blush and Charlie to look a different way. I smiled at Stella and wiggled my eyebrows, which she only rolled her eyes and blushed even more at. "I'll probably just wear that cute white dress that I wore to the interview with Moxie," I said to Mo, who grumbled at me. "You could wear something just a little nicer." I sighed at her, and Charlie started laughing.

"That was the funniest interview that we have ever done!" He laughed. My cheeks were red again. I threw my head into my hands. "That was the most humiliating moment in my life!" I mumbled. "I still feel stupid about that!" Charlie stopped laughing. "I'm sorry, Olivia. On the bright side, it wasn't _that _bad." He said, and I knew he was trying to make me feel better. "Yes it was!" I could hear Mo sighing. "Olivia, it isn't like he left you floundering in the dust. Remember? You are his girl," She said, coming over to sit next to me. "Thanks for trying to cover for me," She whispered in my ear.

I sat back up to see the worried faces of my friends. "It wasn't like we lived happily ever after. We still had things to work out," I pointed out. Stella smiled. "You did have stuff to straighten out. But now that stuff is behind you, and you guys can become official." She reminded me. I smiled at them all. "Thanks, guys. You are really good friends." Mo scoffed. "Oh, we know." She said in a diva voice, flipping on her sunglasses. Stella and Charlie started laughing, while Scott just looked at his phone. "Hey, Olivia, don't you think that you should start getting ready for that date?" He asked me, looking up. "Why? Is Wen asking about me?" Scott chuckled; I was so tired of people chuckling at me today. "Maybe," he decided. I grabbed my bag and headed home. "See you guys!" I yelled over my shoulder. "Text us later!" Stella replied. I wanted to be excited, but I was still thinking about that stupid interview at the back of my mind. Did Wen find it odd that I had done that? I decided to stop thinking as I walked over to my bike and started peddling to Gran's house.

**Mo POV**

"Do you think that they'll have a good time?" I asked, staring after Olivia. "Of course they will! They deserve it!" Stella exclaimed, getting up to throw out all of the napkins that she had used. "Do you think that this'll come out?" She asked, looking down at the giant stain on her shirt. "Stella, she looked pretty nervous. Do you think that she is _still_ upset about that interview?" I asked, hoping that she couldn't hear the worry in my voice. "Mo, I am sure that she is fine. You know that Olivia gets self-conscious like that all of the time. She'll be fine." Scott said soothingly to me, pulling me deeper into his arms. I sighed, resting my case, for now, anyway. "Hey, why didn't Wen tell _me _about this magical date that he has planned?" Charlie asked Scott, sounding offended. "Hey texted you the same thing he texted me, you just don't check your phone." Scott pointed out. Charlie pulled out his phone and seemed to be reading this missing text from Wen. "Oh," he said sheepishly. "Yeah."

"So where is he gonna take her? What are they gonna do? Tell me!" Stella commanded, jumping onto Charlie's arm. Almost as soon as she did, she pulled back and started blushing. Charlie smirked, but seemed to be blushing as well. "I can't tell you," He said, and then looked at me. "Specific instructions from Wen. You guys might text Olivia and tell her. He wants it to be a surprise." He explained. "How long was this text message exactly?" I questioned, but Scott moved his phone away from me. "Aw, come on. You don't trust me?" I pouted. Scott hesitated, and then looked over at Charlie. "Stay strong!" Charlie commanded in reply. Stella laughed at the three of us. "She'd better text us after that date." Stella growled. I laughed, and then pulled out my phone.

**Recipients: Stella**

**Whats up wit u n Charles? ;)**

Stella's phone went off and I smiled as she read my message. She stuck her tongue out at me and growled. "Whats up?" Charlie asked, looking between the two of us. Scott read the message over my shoulder and laughed. "What? I need _something _to do. Olivia's out on this date and I don't know anything about it! My matchmaking skills need to be exercised." I exclaimed.

Charlie's eyebrows went up at the word matchmaker and his eyes traveled over to Stella, who was suddenly intent on beating a level in Angry Birds. Oh, this was going to be a long night.

**Recipients: Stella**

**Why dont u answer my txt? Dont wanna admit da truth? LOL. Sleepova tonite at my house, k?**

**Olivia POV**

I was now dressed in a white dress with my favorite brown leather boots and I had on a bit of makeup. So why was I freaking out so much? I dialed Mo's number and sat down on my bed, my fingers taping nervously. "Hey, Livy. What's up? Aren't you supposed to be on your date?" Mo's voice filled the speaker. "I have everything on; I just sent you a pick. I am still freaking out. What do I do?" I started jumping lightly on the bare wood floor of my room. My little kitty, Daisy, walked over to me and started rubbing against my leg, which gave me a little comfort. "Oh, yeah, I just showed it to Stella and we both think that you look great." "Thanks, but what do I do?" "First of all, breathe, Livy. I seriously doubt that you are breathing right now." She commanded. I took a deep breath in and then let it out. "Okay, I am breathing. Now what?" I could hear Mo laughing on the other line. "See, now doesn't that feel much better?" She joked. "Mo, this is serious!" I practically yelled into the phone. "Liv, relax. Everything will be perfect, you'll see. I happen to know, seeing as Wen just called to ask Stella and me for our opinion on something about your date….."

"Mo! Tell me!" I screamed. She laughed again. "I'll just say that is really sweet, but it isn't over the top. Cool?" I sighed. "Okay, but I still want to know. Don't you want me to be prepared?" "Don't try to play that card on me. I know what you are trying to do. Go, live, laugh, have fun!" She commanded. "I know that you have to be downstairs in a few minutes, because Wen will be there in about five minutes to pick you up. That is all I am gonna tell you. Bye! Love ya!" "Love you," I laughed. "Have fun!" I heard Stella yell.

I sighed, but it wasn't because I felt aggravated. I had the best friends ever.

I was sitting at the top of the staircase waiting for Wen when I heard a knocking on the door. In my hurry to get to the door I almost tackled my grandmother in the process. "Excited, aren't we?" She chuckled. I nodded while trying to unlock the door. "Hi, Liv." Wen greeted me when I opened the door. "Hello, Ms. White," He said, waving to my gram. She smiled at him. "You two have a good time. Stay safe." She said, pulling me closer to her so that she could kiss my cheek. "See you later, Gram," I said as I followed Wen out the door.

"Wow, Liv, you look….beautiful." He said, with the shy grin that I loved. "Thanks," I said, ducking my head. I felt his finger tilt my chin up towards him. "Don't be shy." He teased me. That made me blush again and want to duck my head down again, but instead of letting me do that he kissed me on my lips. It seemed as if we had just started kissing when he pulled away. "So are we gonna just stand around kissing on your porch all day or can I take you were I planned to?" He teased again. I laughed quietly as we walked over to his car, our arms swinging in harmony. He opened the door for me and I slid in. I smiled as he closed the door after me. "So, can you tell me where we are going?" I asked him as he started the car. He shook his head with a grin on his face-my grin. "Nope," he smirked. I noticed that his leg was shaking nervously.

We drove for a while, but I didn't notice because Wen distracted me with conversation, different jokes and music from the radio. I didn't notice what time it was, until I looked at the clock. "Whoa, Wen! Do you realize how long we have been driving?" I exclaimed. He laughed at me, a real laugh this time and not just his usual smirk. "Look out your window," he said, and I knew that he was trying hard to contain a secret.

When I looked outside the window I saw the biggest house that I was sure I would ever see in my life. It looked like a castle, with towers and everything. I looked back over to Wen, to tell him how beautiful the house looked, but he wasn't there. "Wen?" I was starting to panic. I hated being alone, especially since it was dark. The passenger door opened and Wen's hand appeared, which I greatly grabbed hold of. "Where are we?" I asked, still staring at the house.

Wen laughed. "Sydney's parent's house. Huge, huh?" He pulled me over to the door, but I hesitated. "Why?" I asked. He began to look nervous again. "Um, you'll see." He said with a tentative smile. I stopped again. "Wen, no offence, but I don't want to meet Sydney's parents on a date." He smiled. "That's not what we are going to do, Liv. We don't have to go in if you don't want to, but I have something planned…." His voice trailed off. I squeezed his hand. "No way. If you actually took time to plan something out for me, then I defiantly want to see it." I said with a smiled. He chuckled. "You're the best, you know that Liv?" He said as we started walking towards the door. I smirked. "I know I am." I flipped my long blonde hair and walked ahead of him, leaving him standing there and staring.

"Whoa," I breathed, taking the house in. It was beautiful. I was about to start walking into what looked like the kitchen. "Come on, Liv. I have someplace to show you," he said in a soft voice. I could tell that he was really nervous, now. I smiled and followed him up the stairs. He then grabbed my hand and started leading me to another door. He opened it, and I saw a spiral staircase, like the ones in the books. Wen seemed to be relaxed by the smile that was slowly growing across my face. "Come on," he whispered excitedly. "Why are we whispering?" I asked as we ran up the stairs, still hand in hand. I didn't know what to say when we got to the top; I was speechless. We were standing on the roof of this…_castle_, and there on the roof was a blanket, a picnic basket and a stereo. With the stars shining and the gentle breeze in the air, it felt like magic. I could hear Wen's gentle breathing next to me, and I suddenly remembered why we were here. "Oh God, Wen," I breathed walking across the roof. "Do…..do you like it?" He asked nervously. I turned to him and saw his face, then laughed. I was still laughing when he gave me a confused look. "Why….?" I took off my boots and twirled around in a circle, the skirt of my dress flying up with the breeze. I then ran to Wen and jumped into his surprised arms. "This is the most beautiful thing that anyone has ever done for me," I mumbled into his chest as he twirled me around happily.

Five minutes later we were both lying on a blanket looking at the stars. Wen had gotten a pizza pie from Dante's, strawberry cupcakes (my favorite) and fruit salad. Of course, there was also lemonade. Why wouldn't there be? "See that one there?" Wen nudged me and pointed up at a sparkling star. "Yeah," I said quietly. I was trying to make this last for as long as this could; and I was creating memories in my mind. This would make a really great song later.

"It sparkles almost as much as your eyes do." He whispered in my ear. I sat up and faced him. "This is the best date that I have ever been on with you." I said, scooting closer to him. He scooped me up into me arms after he hit as a button on the stereo. Soon we were twisting and turning in a sloppy slow dance across the roof.

He laughed. "I hope that there will be more to come." I laughed along with him; I loved his laugh. "Of course there will. Wen, this is like….a fairytale. " I said as he twirled me around. He leaned into me. "And you are just like my princess." He whispered into my ear. I blushed, and the next song that came on didn't help my blushing problem.

_Today was a fairytale  
>You were the prince<br>I used to be a damsel in distress  
>You took me by the hand and you picked me up at six<br>Today was a fairytale_

_Today was a fairytale_

_Today was a fairytale_  
><em>I wore a dress<em>  
><em>You wore a dark grey t-shirt<em>  
><em>You told me I was pretty<em>  
><em>When I looked like a mess<em>  
><em>Today was a fairytale<em>

_Time slows down_  
><em>Whenever you're around<em>

_Can you feel this magic in the air?_  
><em>It must have been the way you kissed me<em>  
><em>Fell in love when I saw you standing there<em>  
><em>It must have been the way<em>  
><em>Today was a fairytale<em>

_It must have been the way_  
><em>Today was a fairytale<em>

_Today was a fairytale_  
><em>You've got a smile that takes me to another planet<em>  
><em>Every move you make everything you say is right<em>  
><em>Today was a fairytale<em>

_Today was a fairytale_  
><em>All that I can say<em>  
><em>Is now it's getting so much clearer<em>  
><em>Nothing made sense until the time I saw your face<em>  
><em>Today was a fairytale<em>

_Time slows down_  
><em>Whenever you're around<em>

_But can you feel this magic in the air?_  
><em>It must have been the way you kissed me<em>  
><em>Fell in love when I saw you standing there<em>  
><em>It must have been the way<em>  
><em>Today was a fairytale<em>  
><em>It must have been the way<em>  
><em>Today was a fairytale<em>

_Time slows down_  
><em>Whenever you're around<em>  
><em>I can feel my heart<em>  
><em>It's beating in my chest<em>  
><em>Did you feel it?<em>  
><em>I can't put this down<em>

_But can you feel this magic in the air?_  
><em>It must have been the way you kissed me<em>  
><em>Fell in love when I saw you standing there<em>  
><em>It must have been the way<em>

_But can you feel this magic in the air?_  
><em>It must have been the way you kissed me<em>  
><em>Fell in love when I saw you standing there<em>  
><em>It must have been the way<em>  
><em>Today was a fairytale<em>  
><em>It must have been the way<em>  
><em>Today was a fairytale<em>

_Today was a fairytale_

"Odd how that song randomly came on," I mumbled, shooting Wen a glance. He gave me an apologetic look. "Stella and Mo said it would be a good song…" Wen took a deep breath. "Olivia, do you….you know….want to…"

I grabbed his hand and squeezed it. "Be your girl?"  
>He looked up at me with pleading eyes. "Do you want to? You don't have to, I mean…" His voice trailed off as I leaned up on my toes to kiss him. The kiss was filled with heat and passion. Before I knew it, I had Wen's shirt in my hand, I was down on the blanket, and everything just went downhill from there with Taylor Swift playing in the background.<p>

**Mo POV**

"Do you think that she is back yet?" I asked Stella, pacing back and forth all over my room. Stella sat up in my bed. "Come on. She was dressed up in a sexy outfit. Who knows what has become of her V-card." She said, her eyebrows wiggling up and down. I threw a pillow in her face. "This is serious, Stell! I have texted her five times and she hasn't answered!" I exclaimed, plopping down next to her on my bed. She sat up and put a serious face on, something that was hard for Stella to do. "Mo, she is out with her boyfriend on a Friday night, the day before we leave off on tour. She is probably having fun. Give her some time to finish the date." She said, patting my back. I sighed, but then the sound of a phone going off made me jump. I fished my phone out of my purse and check the messages.

"Olivia!" I squealed as I read the message.

**Sent by: Livy**

**Best night of my life :)))))) I sound like a teen girl :p Sucks  
>Wen is so romantic.<strong>

I read the message out loud. Stella jumped up in the air. "I told you!" She whisper-screamed at me. I glanced at the clock in my room. "God, it is four in the morning!" I whisper- screamed back to her. We both collapsed on my bed in a fit of giggles. Stella pulled her phone out and started texting someone. "Who are you texting?" I asked, peering over her shoulder. She pulled away. "If you need to know so badly, then I'll just read it to you."

**Recipient: Livvy **

**So… what condition is that V-card in? :p**

Mo play slapped her. "Stella? You shouldn't ask someone that." But the truth was that really wanted to know. A few seconds later my phone buzzed, and not long after that Stella's phone buzzed. I checked mine first.

**Sent by: Liv**

**Stopped by Grans, said byes and have my stuffs….can I crash at ur place? It will be easy in da morn.**

I texted her that she was welcome to come over anytime, "What did she say to you, Stell?" I asked, hiding a yawn. I looked up at her, and she was staring at the screen of her phone is disbelief. "What?" I asked, sliding closer to her. She tilted the phone so that I could see the message.

**Sent by: Livvy**

**Um…...**

My eyes widened. "She didn't!" I exclaimed. "I think that she did!" Stella corrected me. I thought for a minute. "With Wen? Did they use protection?" I asked her. Stella shrugged and handed me her phone. "Why don't you ask the source for me?"

CHAPTER

3

**Olivia POV**

Mo, Stella and I were sprawled out on Mo's bed, and the both of them were pelting me with questions. I had answered at least fifty of them when the big question came from Stella. "So, Livy, you never answered my question. Is your V-card still safe?" She asked, nudging my shoulder. "Stell," Mo admonished, but she still leaned in to listen as well. I took a deep breath. "Well, um, uh…." My voice trailed off. "Not really," I mumbled. Stella practically jumped off of the bed. "Wen stole your virginity?" She gasped. "He seemed a bit of a….shy person to do that." Mo added. "He didn't steal anything! It was kind of like I gave it to him, actually." I ducked my head down and hoped they would stop asking questions. There was silence for a while, and then Mo was hugging me. "Well, that's…..interesting." She said, looking at Stella. She shrugged. "As long as you know that Wen was the one, I am guessing. We don't really have any say; it is your body. I'm just glad that you're happy." She squeezed my hand and I smiled at her. "You know that I'm happy for you, too, Liv." Mo added.

I sat up. "I seriously can't sleep. What time are we leaving? And your dad is driving us, right Mo?" I asked her, to which she rolled her eyes. "Don't remind me. He is going to drive me crazy." She moaned. Stella smiled. "Yeah, but he is only driving into Arizona. After that that it'll just be the tour manager with us." She said giddily. I laughed at her tone of voice. "He says he wants to be out of here by seven," Mo said, checking her clock. "And look, it is five forty five now." She jumped off of her bed. "Um…..Olivia, do you want to change into something a little more comfortable?" She asked, staring at my rumpled clothing. I blushed. "Uh, yeah, I see that you guys kinda…." "Slept with our clothes on? Yeah, we are just cool like that." Stella said, nodding her head. I laughed and walked towards the bathroom with some of the clothes that had been in my bag to change.

**Mo POV**

Stella and I watched Olivia go into the bathroom to change. "She kinda _does _look like she lost her V-card, doesn't she?" I asked Stella. She nodded, even though here head was bent down towards her phone, and she was texting quickly, smiling while she did. "Who're you talking to?" I asked, trying to read over her shoulder. She moved away and blushed. "Um, Charlie says that he'll be over in twenty." She said, looking back down and blushing again. "What's with your recent fetish for Charles?" I asked her, teasing slightly. She looked up at me, threw her phone on my bed, and rolled her eyes. "I do not have a crush on-" She was cut off by the look that I was giving her. "Is it really that obvious?" She asked in quiet voice. I laughed and scooted next to her. "I think that there is a chance that he might feel the same way as you. I see the way the he looks at you when you speak." I pointed out. She rolled her eyes. "Yeah, right. What ever happened to that blonde tramp that he used to hand around with?" I scoffed. "Her? Please. She didn't stick around long enough for them to have a little kiss." Stella smiled at me. "You think that I have a shot?"  
>"Stella, you started this high school band that is now leaving to go on tour for the summer, and possible some of the next school year and you are telling me that you are afraid of a boy?" I pretended to slap her and she smiled. "Hey, guys," Olivia was back in my room, and she packed the clothes that she had on into her bag.<p>

**Olivia POV**

Soon enough Charlie was here. Mo's dad wouldn't let him up in Mo's room, so we all sat at the table in the dining room. It was pretty awkward, with Mr. Banjaree hovering over us and giving Charlie evil looks. Don't even get me started on how it got when Scott was here, because Mo had to sit on the other side of the table and wasn't allowed any PDA with Scott, which I am guessing sucked for her. Finally Wen came, because he was the slowest of our group. "Alright, everybody in the car," Mr. Banjaree ushered the six of us and our bags into the van that he had rented. The car ride was long and awkward. Music would have made it better, but we weren't allowed to touch the radio as Mr. Banjaree had the classical music channel playing the whole time. We basically spent the whole ride playing games on our phones and texting each other.

Wen didn't say anything about the other night; he just kept smiling at me and squeezing my hand. I would smile back at him. Secretly I was glad that he didn't say anything, because I didn't want Mr. Banjaree or any of the guys to hear. Forget that; the guys probably already knew. Finally we saw the magical sign: **Welcome to Arizona!**We still had to keep on driving to Phoenix to get to the theater that we would be performing at. Mr. Banjaree parked the van and we all got out to check out the theater.

**Sent by: Stell**

**EXCITEMENT! **

**To: you, Mo, Scotty, Charles, Wendell **

I smiled and turned to Stella, who had her eyebrows raised up to her hairline and she was smiling like a crazy person. I had to bite my lip pretty hard to keep from laughing. The theater was huge, and thank God that it was air conditioned.

"Hello, Lemonade Mouth!" Yelled a female voice from behind us. We turned around to see a young woman with brown hair and red streaks. "Hello, Ms. Burke," Mr. Banjaree said to our band manager. Stella looked like she wanted to jump up and hug our band manager. "Hello, Mr. Banjaree. It is nice to see you all again." She said, turning to us all. I smiled at her and Wen wrapped his arm around me, pulling me closer to him.

"So, I guess that…" She turned to Mo's dad. "You might want to say goodbyes, so I'll leave you guys alone. You can come and get me outside when you are ready, and I'll take you to the hotel." She said, smiling. Once she was outside, Mr. Banjaree turned to Mo. "I already told you about the rules, and I expect that your parents, and grandmother, did as well." He said, turning to the rest of smiled at him. "We know. I'll miss you," She held her arms out for a hug, and her father pulled her in. He kissed her on her forehead and then let her go. "And remember, the most important thing is that you all have fun." He said sternly to us all, which we laughed at. He walked out of the building slowly, and when he did, Stella jumped up in the air and screamed.

"WE ARE OFFICIALLY ON TOUR!" She yelled. I laughed as her voice echoed throughout the theater.

"Oh yeah!" Marta walked back inside of the theater. "You guys sound pumped," She said, looking pointedly at Stella. She shrugged, but the smiled never left her face. We all had giant smiles on, now. "So, I'll just take you guys to your hotel and then you guys can check in, get settled….Just have fun today. You'll have the weekend to do whatever, and then you can start rehearsing on Monday, k?" She asked, looking at all of us.

We all looked at each other and nodded. "Cool," Scott said. "Cool? This is _way _better than _cool_!" Stella exclaimed.

"Oh, my God. I feel like a proper rock star." Mo exclaimed, mimicking her father's speech and throwing herself onto her bed in our hotel room. I laughed, throwing my bags on my bed. "Yeah, I'm getting that feeling too." I expected to hear Stella add something but I didn't. "Stella?" I asked, looking behind my shoulder. To my surprise, she popped out of a closet. "This is the best!" She announced, running across the room into a cartwheel. I stared at her, and turned to Mo, who just shrugged. "Stella will be Stella," she decided. Stella popped up. "What is _that _supposed to mean?" She teased in Mo's face. I laughed a loud laugh. Then my phone buzzed.

**Sent by: Wen 3**

**Okay if we come in?**

Whoa, were they standing out the door? "Stella! Stop with the cartwheels; we are right under you!" Charlie yelled from outside of our door. Stella blushed furiously and stopped her jumping as she walked over to the door. "Hey, guys," Mo said as the guys walked in. "Nice room," Scott complemented. I guess he was taking in Mo's side, that was perfectly neat and organized with all of her things put away, my middle, which was pretty much just my stuff that was still in the bags and just sitting around, and Stella's side, with all of her stuff out of the bags, sprawled around everywhere. "These rooms are so huge, they could be apartments!" I exclaimed, looking at the size of our room. Wen nodded and sat next to me on my bed. "Yeah, they are." He whispered, slipping something into the pocket of my jeans. I looked up at him in surprise, but he just shrugged. "Later," he mouthed.  
>"Big enough for you and Wen to have a sleepover? Yeah, I would say it is just about that size." Charlie noted, swiping some of the candy that sat in the bowl on the coffee table. "Okay, first thing we have to do is go shopping," Mo commanded, grabbing her purse. We all moaned on cue. She rolled her eyes at us. "Look, we really should, and we can do whatever you guys wanna do later." She didn't wait for us to answer as she walked out the door.<p>

"Let's go in this store!" Mo exclaimed, pulling Scott towards her. We were all pretty annoyed about Mo having taken up the whole afternoon with the shopping of these tourists' keepsakes that we all really didn't need. Scott sighed and looked up at the sign. "Bath and Body Works?" He asked warily. We all moaned. "Come on, guys! This is the last store, I promise!" We all followed her into the store reluctantly, with Charlie mumbling, "That's what you said about the last store."

The store smelt like perfume and different fruits, was the first thing that I noticed. The room was full of women, so I was sure that the guys felt pretty odd following us girls around. "Oh, look, Olivia, this would be perfect for your lips! They moisturize and protect from the sun-" Mo stopped talking when she noticed that it was dead silent. Before there had been the mumbles of many different people at once, but now everyone was dead silent. I looked up to see why, and I think that was the first mistake I made that day.

I saw a man pointing a gun at the six of us.

Time seemed to stop and I forgot how to breathe. I gripped Mo's hand tightly, and I heard the sound of the perfume bottle that Stella had been holding crashing to the floor, the glass bottle breaking to pieces. I felt frozen. "Ciara!" He growled in a husky voice. I had no idea who he was referring to. I felt Wen's had squeeze mine. "I promise that I won't let this guy hurt you," He whispered. This man _looked_ like a criminal. He had long blonde hair in a greasy ponytail and he looked as if he hadn't shaved in days. His eyes were bloodshot. I winced as I saw the man point at me. "I am talking to you, answer me, Ciara!" He screamed again. "I-I-I'm n-n-not Ciara." I said in a small voice. "Don't give me that shit! Why did you run away from home? First your mother, and then you!" He practically spit at me. I had no idea who this man was or what he was talking about. "I'm sorry," he said, his voice softening. "Were you planning a surprise for me? Did you remember that my birthday was on Saturday?" I looked up at Wen with fear in my eyes, and he put an arm around me and pulled me closer to him. I noticed that Scott was holding Mo in his arms, and Charlie had an arm around Stella. I squeezed Wen's hand. "Answer me, you bitch! I wake up and find that you aren't there in your bed! Your sister had been going crazy! Then I find out that you are in this….this… goddamn band! What the hell, Ciara? ANSWER ME WHEN I SPEAK TO YOU!"

My eyes didn't move from the pistol that was now pointed at Wen. "WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?" He screamed at Wen. Wen pulled me closer to him. "I'm _Olivia's _boyfriend." He said. His eyes seemed to be darker, and he was scaring me. I knew that his attitude would get him in trouble someday. He would probably stand a better chance if he had a gun as well. The man stared at Wen, then at me, and started laughing. I didn't know what to do. I bit of movement caught my eye, and I saw that Wen was pulling his cell phone out of his pocket. Before I knew it, he had 911 dialed. He slowly brought his phone up to his ear. That caused the man to stop laughing instantly. His eyes seemed to darken just as Wen's had. "WHAT THE HELL YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING?" He screamed. Wen didn't flinch. "Calling the cops. You're a nut job." He stated. "Wen!" Stella hissed. Mo looked at him in fear, then back at the man.

The man glared at him. "What a brave boyfriend you have there, Cici." He mocked. It went by so fast; before I knew it he had pulled the trigger and I heard the gunshot. I jumped and looked around at the six of us. Why were they staring at me? I hadn't felt anything. Oh, God….  
>I looked up at when and saw blood gushing from his shoulder. "Wen," I breathed, tears rolling down my cheeks. He didn't seem to be affected, but his chest wasn't rising and falling the same way it had been. It felt as if he were struggling for air. The man smiled an evil smile. "You….bastard!" Stella screamed. I felt frozen. The gun was now pointed at Stella, and she shut up instantly. Charlie pulled her back behind him. "Come on, Ciara, it is time to go home." He said, gesturing for me to follow him. I felt like I couldn't breathe. I noticed that Wen's grip on my hand loosened, and his eyelids fluttered as he fell to the ground. I instantly kneeled down beside him, as did Mo. I looked up at the man and tried to show hate in my eyes, but all I felt were tears. "I SAID TO COME!" He screamed at me. He seemed to be trying to control his anger and breathed in and out a couple of times. "Ciara, I am not going to ask you again. Let me remind you that I can make <em>sure <em>that your buddy doesn't make it thru the night." The gun was aimed back down towards Wen. I took a deep breath. _Just breathe, Liv. I doubt that you are doing that right now. _

"If I come with you," I started in a small voice, shaking. "If I come with you, do you promise to leave them alone?" I asked, tears threatening to roll over again. The man took a swift look of all of my band mates, and then shrugged. "Sure, whatever," He decided. I felt Wen's hand give me a weak squeeze.

"No, Liv," He whispered. I shook my head and squeezed his hand again, leaning in to give him a kiss on his lips. I slowly rose up and walked towards the man with the gun, something that I had sworn so many times that I would never do after all of those movies with Stella. Every step I took seemed to echo throughout the silent store. Once I was to the man, he grabbed me in his arms, still pointing a gun at everyone. "Why don't you go outside and wait by the car?" He whispered in my ear. "I'll know if you try to run, and then _all _of your friends will be gone. I can promise you that on your mother's grave." I shivered when he said that, as if he knew everything about me. He was clearly a crazy person. But I needed to protect my friends, so I nodded and walked outside of the store.

**Mo POV**

Before the man followed Olivia outside he growled, "If any of you try to follow me I swear that I'll kill all of you, and her," He said, taking the gun and pointing at all of us, then at the door. He then walked outside of the door. I felt frozen, like I couldn't move. Before I knew it, Scott had scoped me up into his arms, bridal style. Stella ran over with Charlie following, and they both kneeled around Wen's body, staring at his bloody shoulder. I could see tears on everyone's faces. No one else was important now.

"_Hello? Sir..?  
>We are on our way. Try to stay calm."<em>

CHAPTER

4

**Mo POV**

I felt as if we had all been sitting there in the same position for hours, as if we were mannequins in a store modeling a new clothing line. The only way that any of us moved was by breathing and crying. I stared at Wen's face that was becoming paler by the second. I wanted to do something, but my mind was blank. I could move my body; I felt like I was frozen. After a while I hear d sirens in the background. Who had called the police? Scott sat me down next to Stella as he sat down next to me. People were now gravitating towards us. I heard different sounds that I registered as voices, but I couldn't understand anything beyond that. The sirens were closer now, and I knew that the paramedics were in this room. A man took one look at Wen and then started speaking quickly into a walkie- talkie, never taking his eyes off of him. A woman came over to us and bent down. "Can you guys tell me what happened? Who called 991?" She asked in a calm, quiet voice. I noticed that everyone was forming into a line and speaking to some of the paramedics in a corner.

Stella looked at Wen one more time and then her eyes snapped up to the woman. She opened her mouth as if she was going to speak, but no words came out. "Gun shooting," Charlie said simply. The woman nodded as other paramedics loaded Wen onto a stretcher and carried him outside. And then there were four. "Well, first things first. Are any of you injured?" She asked, looking between the four of us.

We all shook our heads at the same time. "In shock a little, I think," Scott decided. The woman nodded again. "Did you know that boy?" She asked. I got the feeling that she was following a list of questions. "Yes," We all answered unanimously. Her eyebrow rose, but she continued. "How?" We all looked back and forth between ourselves. "He…was our band mate, but we are all really good friends," Stella said in a shaky voice, finally trusting herself to speak. She snuggled into Charlie's chest, and he wrapped his arms around her. The woman nodded, giving us a sympathetic smile. "I won't ask you what happened just yet; we'll ask some of the witnesses, because we can see that you are all in shock. I understand that you are here with you band manger? We have alerted her and she is waiting for us at the hospital. You can hop in the truck with us." She said, with another smile. She got up and walked back over to the corner to talk with her consultants. Looking at everyone's faces, I had no idea what to say. We all looked so pale, even though we hadn't been hurt. Right now I was wondering what was happening to Olivia. How had she just given herself up for us like that? I sighed, and put my hand out. Everyone stared at me for a moment, but then Stella got the idea. She slapped her hand on top of mine, in which Charlie followed and lastly Scott. "We are _not _going to let some bastard hurt two of our friends," Charlie declared. We all nodded our heads in unison.

The woman was standing over us again, smiling what looked like a real smile now. "I like your attitudes," She decided. She motioned for us to follow her outside, were there was a group of people standing, including people with cameras. I _didn't_ need this right now, none of us did. We rushed into the back and sat in silence, us all gripping onto someone's hand.

It didn't help that Wen was in the middle of us, with an oxygen mask over his face, and his face still looking pale. It looked odd with the red hair that stuck out from the top of his head. He was hooked up to a machine, and another woman was watching it intently, as if she were waiting for something to happen. I hated the silence that followed us on the ride to the hospital. Silence wasn't my thing; it made a room seem dark and depressing, which was exactly what this ride was. One person was kidnapped, one person was shot, and didn't they make the ultimate power couple….

We finally reached the hospital. It honestly wasn't that far from the store, but it had felt like hours until we had gotten there. First we watched them wheel Wen out, and then we followed, Scott helping me get down. Charlie held a hand out for Stella, but she just jumped down. I could see sadness in her eyes and…was it? Fury.

We entered the ER, and the halls were dead silent, and I could hear the echo of everyone's shoes. It had started raining out, and I could hear the thunder rumbling. Usually rain soothed me, but this storm did nothing.  
>I could hear the sound of intercoms, and the people who were wheeling Wen down speaking to each other.<p>

"Gun shot, to the shoulder."

"You think it hit the artery?"

"Please. It hit the artery and this kid would be dead."

"Immediate surgery?"

"You know it. Room 254?"

"Oh yeah."

"Dr. Robins please report to room 254."

Scott had his arm around me, but I could pull my eyes away from Wen laying on the gurney. I shivered; how I hated hospitals. They had that feeling of death that no one wanted to feel. Stella's fists were clenched so hard that you could see her veins popping out of her skin. While Wen was wheeled to another room we were lead to a waiting room, where we saw Marta. She looked so worried; I saw the lines all over her face. "Guys, I heard all about what happened! You guys are defiantly taking a break from your tour because of this. I have called all of your parents, including Olivia's grandmother, and they should be here in a couple of hours." She said, taking a minute to hug us all. I knew that she was feeling for any other injures. We all flopped down on the couches at the same time. "The hotel is actually pretty close, so it will be easy to get in and out. Of course, I totally understand if you guys want to stay here with me and wait for Wen." Stella glared at her. "Was it really necessary to ask that question?" She turned and stared into space. "You already know the answer."

Marta stared at her for a moment, and then stood up. "I'm kind of hungry. Anyone hungry?" She asked, looking at all of us. We all shook our heads, which seemed like all we had been capable of doing today. How did she even expect us to eat after that? I stopped thinking for a moment to find that I felt utterly exhausted. I snuggled into Scott's arms and soon found myself in a deep sleep.

"Mo? Mo! MOHINI!" I heard someone scream into my ear while they shook me. My eyelids opened, and I saw Stella standing over me. "I think that they are done with the surgery by now," She said in a quieter voice. Her eyes were red and she seemed as if she had been crying. I sat up from Scott's lap, and he untangled his arms from around me. I looked between him, Charlie, and Stella. "Was I the only one who got sleep?" I asked, my voice sounding quiet and weak.

"Caffeine is a very wonderful thing, Mohini," Stella sighed. I nodded. "Okay, but you guys are defiantly sleeping later." I commanded, giving my signature glare to everyone. Stella scoffed. "Yeah, like that'll happen." She got up from her seat, and I noticed that she had on a black hoodie, and that her hair was wet and pulled back into a ponytail. "Am I the only one going?" She asked, looking around at the three of us. We all followed Stella to the front desk, where an aggravated looking lady sat. "Um, Hello. We were wondering if Wendell Gifford is allowed to have visitors." I asked politely. The woman looked up at me and stared. "Do you realize that it is three thirty in the morning?" She asked me. I looked hesitantly at Stella. "Um, yes." She rolled her eyes. "Are you family?" "No." I answered. She didn't even look up at me as she responded. "Then you are not allowed to visit him at his time." She plastered a sweet smile on her face as if to dismiss me. I looked back at Stella and Charlie helplessly. 'Let me handle this,' Stella mouthed. She leaned her arms up against the desk. "_I'm _his sister," She said, daring the woman to challenge her. The woman pushed down her glasses and squinted at Stella's face, then look down at a bunch of papers.

"You look nothing like him," She decided. Stella grinned, but it wasn't friendly. "Listen lady," she hissed. "That guy in there," she pointed to some random door in a hallway, "_is _my brother. A brother to all of us, actually. He's my best friend, and he was just shot by some bastard who also kidnapped the girl who was like my sister, who was his girlfriend. I don't give a damn if I don't look like him or not; I want to see him." I honestly didn't think that Stella was capable of sounding like that.

The lady at the desk leaned in, getting closer to Stella's face. "Listen missy. I am _not _enjoying your attitude. I am sitting that this lousy desk at three thirty in the morning, listening to complaints from brats like you. I don't care if he is your friend or _whatever, _you _cannot go and see him. Is that clear?" _She tried to sound threatening. Stella merely laughed. "His family isn't here right now. _Someone _has to go in there and explain this crap to him. I am going to see him." She leaned down to stare at the papers that the lady held. "Recovery room 324, right? Cool." She turned on her heel and started walking away with us. "I am going to call security!" She yelled. Stella laughed. "And have them do _what, _exactly? I told you already lady: I don't give a damn." Just as she finished her rant, a man in a white coat showed up. "What is going on here?" He asked, looking between our group and the lady at the desk. "Mr. Robins, this young lady is demanding that I allow her to visit into a room when we have rules-" He cut her off as he started looking through the paperwork on her desk.

"They have special permission to go and visit him, Ms. Sarnoff. They are all on tour and they're manager has already seen him. Since his family is not here yet, they are allowed." He said, shaking the paper that he held in his hand. "Maybe if you would read the notices that were sent to you there would be fewer problems on your floor," He said, giving her a pointed look. She began to blush, and Stella, like the mature adult that she is, stuck her tongue out at the desk lady.

"Hello, everyone," He started, walking from behind the desk over to us. "Wendell Gifford, correct?" He asked, scanning us over. We all nodded eagerly. "He made it through the surgery, which is great. He seems to be responding well to the treatment. He'll probably have a scar for life. We gave him some drugs for pain that are just wearing off. He is pretty whipped, so you'll have to be careful. He was really lucky this time. He could have died or lost movement in his arm, but if he keeps responding the way he is and sleeps through the night, then he should be discharged around tomorrow afternoon." He said with a smile. "Thank you," Stella said with a genuine smile. We all started walking towards Wen's room. "God, Stella. You should go into acting. I mean, the way that you can change moods so quickly…" Charlie's voice trailed off. She looked up at him and laughed. "I fight when I need to, if anyone messes with one of us." She threw some sample punches in the air, which we all laughed at. 'Except for Olivia,' I thought to myself. When we got to Wen's room, there was already a nurse there leaving. She smiled warmly at us.

"Nice to see that there is some decent staff around here," Scott muttered, and I slapped him. "You know it is true," Charlie mumbled, and Stella shrugged, but nodded in agreement. "You have a fighter there," She said, pointing back at the door with a smile. "He's really lucky. You all are. Sorry about your friend." I tried to swallow my tears. "News spreads fast around here, doesn't it?" I muttered. The nurse gave us an apologetic look. "Apparently there were a lot of witnesses, who all had some part of the story to tell. Hate to say in, but you'll probably be the main story on Good Morning America, especially because of your tour." She sighed. Charlie nodded at her in thanks. She started walking away, her brown ponytail swinging back and forth. I looked at everyone. "Who wants to do it?" I asked, gesturing towards the door.

Stella sighed in aggravation and stepped forward. "Oh, please. This is Wen that we are talking about. Why are you guys nervous?" She opened the door without hesitation.

We saw Wen lying in a hospital bed with IV's in his arms. His face was still pale, and his eyes were closed. He was hooked up to a machine, and we could see that his shoulder was bandaged heavily. We walked closer to him. "Well," Stella started. "He's breathing." She was trying to make the best of things. "Barely," Charlie mumbled. Stella shot him an icy glare and he pointed at the machine. "If he can breathe fine, what's with that?" I sighed. "It's to check his heart rate, genius. To make sure that it is normal." I leaned down to look at the machine. "So is his heart rate normal?" Stella asked. "How would I know? I'm not a doctor." I snapped. "I'm sorry, I just hate hospitals." I said, standing back up. Stella nodded in agreement. "They give you that creepy feeling."

"So, you guys just wanna stay in here until he wakes up?" Scott asked, finally deciding to speak. "Yeah," Stella said, staring at him. "How's he gonna react when he wakes up?" I sighed. "He might not even realize at first; he might go into shock. I mean, he took Olivia." I said quietly. Stella nodded, and we all sat down in chairs to relax.

I almost spewed out the cup of black coffee that Stella handed to me. "You guys actually drink this stuff?" I asked, staring at all of them. Charlie shrugged. "It keeps you awake. You can put cream and sugar and stuff in to make it taste better." He suggested, nodding towards the cart outside. I shook my head. "Say I _do _put this stuff in my coffee. Will I stay up as long as you guys do with the black?" Charlie sighed and shrugged. "I don't know." Scott sat forward in his chair. "Hey, guys, I think that he is waking up." He said, nudging Charlie so that he would shut up. "Olivia….Liv, no…" Wen was mumbling in his sleep. "Won't be that hard to tell him, huh? You can do it, Stella. You're best at explaining things." I said as Charlie, Scott and I slid back a bit. She rolled her eyes at us. "So, um, I think we have to get a nurse or something," Charlie started. "Why?" I asked, studying the worried look on his face. He pointed at the heart monitor, where Wen's heart rate had begun to rise. Everyone turned to me. "What does that mean?" Stella asked, worry spreading across her face. I got up out of my chair. "I think that he is having a dream about what happened, and that is why his heart rate is going up. He might have a panic attack when he wakes up, or if he does…" I said, reciting what I remembered from those classes that my father had made me take.

"Okay, let's find a nurse," Stella was out of the room in seconds. We spotted the nurse from earlier before heading towards our room. "Hello girls," she greeted. Then she saw our faces. "What's wrong?" She asked. Stella turned to look at me, and so did the nurse. "Um, his heart rate went up. We think that he is having a bad dream." I explained. The nurse nodded. "We thought that might happen; that is why I came down to check. He should be waking up soon," She said, walking inside of the room. Wen sat up in the hospital bed with a confused look. "What happened?" He asked in a quiet voice. Scott looked at Charlie, who looked at me, and I turned to look at Stella. "Guys," Wen pressed. "What happened? Why are we here?" Then his eyes checked the group over again.

"Where's Olivia?" I felt tears in my eyes again, and nudged Stella so that she would begin to speak. "Uh, um, Wen, we went to a store and a man showed up with a pistol. He shot you, and um, took Olivia with him-" Stella stopped speaking when she saw the glare that Wen was giving her. "You guys just let him take her? Just like that?" "What did you expect us to do? You were already down; the gun was pointed at you _again. _One move and you would have been gone, and she would have hated us for that." Stella replied, and I could tell that she was trying hard not to scream. Wen turned to look at the guys, and they nodded in agreement. "You know that we _wanted _to do something," Charlie said. "What were we gonna do? Wen, he didn't exactly take her. She went with him so that he would leave us alone." He explained gently.

I could have sworn that I saw tears in Wen's eyes. During this whole discussion the nurse had been checking Wen's vitals. "Wen, you have to calm down. You'll have a panic attack, and then we'll have to sedate you." She said soothingly. Wen started playing with the IV's in his arm in reply. "What are you doing?" She asked, staring at him. Soon the IV's were out, and Wen was trying to get out of the bed, to which Scott pushed him back down. "What do you think you are doing?" He exclaimed loudly. "Going to find Olivia, what does it look like?" He snapped.

"No, you're not." Stella commanded. "You are _defiantly _not going right now. We want you to get better, so you can't move your left arm or you'll lose movement in it." She explained. He stared at her for a minute, and then lay back in the bed. His heart rate went back to normal. The nurse gave us all a look, and then left the room. "We _will _find her, Wen. Just get better first, okay?" I said quietly. He nodded, and then was asleep again.

CHAPTER

5

**Olivia POV**

Still shaking, I walked out into the parking lot aimlessly. I had no idea where his car was, or if it even was a car. For all I knew it was a flying car of death. I glanced back at the store, and saw the man coming back out. I arched my neck to try and get a glimpse of one of my friends, but I couldn't see anyone. My vision blurred with tears. Would this be the last time that I would see them? The man looked at me for a moment, and then pointed to a large black van, understanding my confusion. I glanced at the van and almost sighed. Of course; what else would a madman like him drive? This sounded like something from straight out of a movie. The man started walking closer to me, so I hurried to the van. I didn't want him to come near me after the events in the store. I realized that he would probably hover around me once I was inside of his van, but I wanted to keep close to myself right now. I knew that he wouldn't jump on me right now; there were people around. The worst part was that not one person that passed us even looked up. I guess we looked perfectly normal; perhaps a father taking his daughter on a shopping trip.

I suddenly wondered what _was_ going to happen. I mean, he didn't have to be taking me anywhere special. He could be driving down to a bridge so he could shoot me and dump me into the ocean, where no one could find me. There were many other things he could do-some that scared me more than others. I had read about victims of kidnapping coming back home with four children from their kidnapper-if they were kept alive. I decided to stop with my thinking and I hurried to the van. It looked pretty knew-no scratches or anything. There were no doors in the back of the van, so I opened the door to the driver's seat to get in, and I slid open the window like wall in between the back and the front of the van, which reminded me of a taxi. Sliding myself through the opening, I jumped when I saw a pair of green puppy dog eyes in front of my face, seemingly waiting for me. I landed on the bottom of the van with a thud, and I saw the child's mouth open as if they were to say something, but they didn't. It was a child; I could tell that much. I was guessing that it was a boy because of the short red hair. It was scary the way this child reminded me so much of Wen, with the freckles and facial expression that he/she was making. I climbed into the back of the van a few minutes before the man came back around and jumped into the front seat.

He slid the opening that I had crawled through closed, and started the car. I let out a deep breath; there was no going back now. I had made this decision, even though I was regretting it so much. Then I thought of my friends back inside of the store and I tried to convince myself that I had done what was best. "You might want to get comfortable," the man announced, chuckling a bit. "It is going to be a long ride," He said, looking back at me in the mirror, and I guess the child who was back here. "I told you that your sister was freaking out," He laughed. I looked back at the child with my eyebrows raised. So she was a girl? I could sort of tell, I mean, her features were pretty feminine. She wore a dirty blue shirt that looked like it hadn't been washed in a while, and it was a little too big for her small body, with muddy jeans that were rolled up to her knees, reveling pale skin that was decorated with small red scabs. She stared back at me, but she didn't seem scared or anything like I had had expected. Instead she looked kind of surprised, but sort of like a surprise that she had expected, like when your mother tells you she won't get you something you want for Christmas and when Christmas comes around and you have got the present right there, sitting under the tree. The car started moving, and we all sat in silence. I didn't expect any actual conversation; I was being kidnapped, for crying out loud.

The one thing that I thought about was where he would take us. Maybe back to his home? But why would he do that? Maybe he really thought that I was his daughter, and I would have to play house with him for a while. So who was I? Forget that, who was the man? Forgetting my thoughts for a moment I noticed the girl looking my way. I thought I saw her flash a grin at me, but I could have imagined it. We drove for a while, and the man was talking on the phone at one point. He was laughing and speaking in a hushed voice. I didn't know what to think of it. The only thing I could think of was Wen and the others that I had left back in the store.

We could be in another state by now, or even over the border. It wouldn't have taken him that long to get into Mexico, based on long we had been driving. I couldn't tell what time it was, and I couldn't tell if it was light out. I guess it was better than being tied up and gagged. There wasn't much to look at in the van; there were empty plastic bags all over the place. My eyes traveled back over to the girl, who was writing in a small notepad, the ones you could get in the dollar store. She ripped a page out and handed it to me, her eyes looking nervously up at the window between the driver and passenger seats and us.

_We should be home soon. Just don't say anything unless anyone says anything to you. Just call him Dad, and you'll be good, _was written in a sloppy print across the page. I smiled at her hesitantly, and the corner of her mouth turned up a bit in a small grin. I finally felt the van stop, and the small reassuring feeling that I had gotten from the note that the girl had given me disappeared as the man opened the opening through the wall between the seats. "Home sweet home," he smiled, and I winced at his yellow teeth. "You won't be running away this time-I have everything set up so that you can't escape again." He didn't sound very much like a father. What kind of father spoke to their child like they were some sort of...prisoner?

I stared at the small house that looked as if it could be a shoebox, it was so small. The odd part was the house was on such a large piece of land. I guessed that he was a farmer, because I saw what looked like crops to me. A farmer who kidnapped people? Maybe he really did believe that I was a part of his family. But he did act awfully kidnapper like for a father. "What are you standing there and staring for? Get in the house!" He barked from behind me, and I jumped. I slowly walked towards the shoebox house and opened the small door.

CHAPTER

6

**Olivia POV**

To my surprise, the house didn't look like a torture chamber when I entered. It reminded me of the homes on the prairie way back when had been like. The house was basically one room, and it wasn't very large. There was a kitchen area in the corner, and in the middle of the room there was a fireplace, with a wooden table and four chairs around it. The house was all made of wood, without any paint or wallpapers anywhere. I saw doors which I was hoping lead to different rooms, not to a torture chamber or something along those lines. I heard a click and I turned around to see the man or "Dad", locking what looked like a million deadbolts on the door with a bunch of keys that were strung on a necklace on his neck. He noticed me looking at him and smiled. "I told you that you weren't getting out this time. Actually, this was your stepmother's idea. "So now there was a stepmother? Well, what had happened to the real mother? He had mentioned something about the mother running away. I felt a spark of hope. If she had done it, I could as well. The man pushed me into the room lightly, and I heard the girl stumble in after me. "Adam?" I heard I feminine voice yell from across the….house?

The woman had long black hair and brown eyes. She reminded me of Mo, but Mo had natural beauty, and this woman was covered in makeup. She was dressed in a button up plaid shirt, jeans, and sneakers walked into the room carrying an IPhone in her hand. She looked as if she had just gotten off of the phone. Her eyes traveled over the two of us girls, rolling her eyes in the process. When she looked at me for the second time, her eyes narrowed. "So," she began. "I see that you have found the runaway." She said, venom in her voice. I felt uncomfortable under her gaze. I didn't realize that I had fallen to the floor until I noticed the man, or "Adam" staring down at me. "Did you hear me, Ciara? Answer the woman! She is your stepmother; you owe her the upmost respect." He declared loudly. The woman walked up to him and kissed his cheek, leaning her arm on his shoulder. I reached up and felt the spot that he had slapped me, still stinging with pain. I slowly got up, and I felt everyone's eyes burning holes into me. "Yes, I did run away." I said in a small voice. The woman glared at me, and before I knew it I was back on the ground again. "I see that band of yours made you forget your manners. Ah, but that doesn't matter. I know that I am a wonderful teacher." She said with a grin, looking down at me.

I felt boxed in; claustrophobic. I wanted to get out of the small house, but I had no idea how to. I wasn't sure whether or not to get up, so I just stayed down. Now that I am looking back, I think that was a smart move that I made. The woman's head whipped around to face the girl. "Aren't I good at teaching manners, Anna?" She barked. The girl nodded quickly. "Yes, you are, Ma'am." She said in a scratchy voice. The man laughed. "I'll see to it that you are punished, anyway. Even though I'll be at work often, Debbie will be here to keep an eye on you," He said, as if he were disciplining his child. But he thought that I was his child. I had to remember that.

Debbie looked back at Adam and whispered something in his ear. "The both of you go change into something clean. We are going to have a family dinner, _after _the both of you have had your punishment." He commanded. Debbie grabbed my arm and the girl's arm, or Anna roughly. I felt long nails claw into my skin that was exposed because of the tank top that I was wearing.

She dragged us over to one of the doors that also had a deadbolt on it. Not as many as the front door had, but there still was one there. Debbie turned to smile at me as she reached under her shirt and pulled out a bunch of keys that were also strung on the necklace around her neck. She pushed Anna into the room, but before she threw me in she whispered something in my ear. "Don't worry, Olivia White. You might be able to see your precious Wendell again, if he pays the ransom." And with that, I was thrown into the room.

The room was small, with a bunk bed pushed against one wall, and a dresser pushed against another. They both looked as if they had been made by hand, with the same wood that the house was made of. I saw a guitar sitting in another corner, which surprised me. Why would there be a guitar here? The thing that I was thinking about the most, though, was what Debbie had said to me before she had locked us in. so she knew who I was, and she knew about the band. She didn't think that I was Ciara, like the man did. So why did she play along with Adam as if she thought that I were Ciara? I sat down on the bottom bunk and thought about this. Anna came over and sat next to me. "I'm sorry that you are here." She said, in a normal voice different from the quiet one that she had used before. I looked up at her, and her green eyes seemed brighter now; defiant. "I know that you aren't Ciara." She added, looking away from me suddenly. I have to admit, I was a bit surprised. I had just assumed that she would be playing the same game that everyone else was playing in. "You do?" I asked, trying to keep the surprise out of my voice. I doubted that it worked, though. The girl nodded. "Ciara was the girl that my father to kidnapped to be his wife a couple of years ago." She said quickly. My eyebrows rose. Before I could say anything, Anna began speaking again. "She was around your age when he took her. I guess he wanted someone to replace my mother." She shrugged.

"What happened to Ciara?" I asked. Anna looked away, and I left the question alone. "She looked _a lot _like you. You could probably be twins." She offered, turning back towards me. I nodded. "Can I ask you a few questions? You don't have to answer them if you don't want to." I said quickly, hoping that I didn't make her feel uncomfortable. She was the only one that made me feel comfortable, and I think that was because she looked like Wen. She thought for a moment, and then smiled a half smile. "Sure. You can ask me anything." "What happened to your mom?" I asked in a quiet voice. Anna's eyes seemed to be clouded over, but she answered anyway. "She and my dad started fighting. They decided to get a divorce, and my mom filed for sole custody. My dad took me back, though, and my mom doesn't know." She whispered.

I couldn't resist wrapping my arm around Anna's small shoulders. "My name isn't really Anna." She whispered. I turned my head to look at her face. "What do you mean?" I asked, whispering along with her. She sighed, and seemed to think for a while. "When my dad took me from my mom, he said we were gonna go somewhere for a while. And at the place where we were going I was going to need a new name." I rubbed her back, but didn't ask what her real name was. I didn't want to push her anymore. "Well, I asked you some questions, so you can ask me some." I offered, trying to lighten her up. She half smiled again. "I know some things about you, from when I was allowed to watch television." She told me. "There is a TV here?" I asked, surprised. Well, this place was just full of surprises, wasn't it now?

Anna nodded. "Dad has one is his bedroom, but we are never allowed in there unless….well, he thinks that you are an imaginary daughter, not a wife, so you should be safe." She mumbled to himself. I tried not to think about what she meant. "There is one hidden in a cupboard in the family room. We are allowed to watch educational shows, but sometimes I am in there when Debbie watches shows, so I have seen things." She said with a sneaky smile. I laughed at her. "Okay, so I asked you three questions, so you can ask me three questions." I offered. She sat with her legs crossed in pretzel style and folded her hands together. "Okay first question," she started.

"Shoot."

"Hmm," She thought for a moment. "How old are you?" She asked, looking sheepish. "I mean, you look seventeen, but..." Her voice trailed off. I smiled at her in response. "I am sixteen, but I'll be seventeen in exactly two weeks." I answered. I suddenly felt disappointed. What if I wasn't out of here by then? What is I was locked up here…forever?

"Cool! That means you are only…four and a half years older than me!" She exclaimed. I laughed. She looked at the door and seemed afraid that something might happen. "Can I hold onto my questions until tomorrow?" She asked. I nodded. "Of course," She smiled at me, full smile this time. "You can ask me four questions tomorrow." She whispered.

"Thanks. But why are we whispering?" I asked, following her gaze that was fixed on the door. "We are supposed to be on punishment because you 'ran away.'" She made air quotes when she said 'ran away'. "We can sleep now," She offered. "You must be tired after that long drive." She pointed out, and I nodded. She lay down on the bottom bunk, and I started climbing up to the top bunk, but she stopped me. "It has been a while since I have had someone to share a room with," She began. "Would you, um..." Her voice trailed off, but she smiled when I lay down next to her in the bottom bunk.

I started emptying out my pockets like I usually did before I went to bed, but I stopped at one of the things that I saw. It was the little box that Wen had slipped into my pocket earlier at the hotel room. That moment had seemed like a lifetime ago, and the worst part was that I took advantage of it. I had thought that I would have later that night to be with Wen and my friends, but now I didn't even know if I would be alive the next morning, or if Debbie or Adam would shoot me in my sleep. I opened up the little box with shaking fingers and Anna staring at the box along with me. We both seemed to be holding our breath. Inside of the box was a pretty large gold heart, with a picture of the whole band together at one of our photo shoots. The image made me want to start crying, but I didn't with Anna sitting right next to me. "Is that your band?" She asked, barely whispering this time. I nodded slowly, and I smiled when she fastened the necklace around my neck. _Now you have a piece of us in your heart,_ was written in Wen's handwriting on a small card in the box. It took all of my will power not to throw myself against the door, start crying and screaming and begging for them to let me go, but I remained strong and didn't do it.

Anna and I smiled at each other for a moment, and then we both lay down again. I was digging through my pocket and I realized that I had another thing there.

My cell phone. _It had reception. _

CHAPTER

7

**Mo POV**

We were all sitting next to Wen's bed when the nurse came in. it had been four days since….the day. I didn't want to think about it. "Hey, kids." She said in an excited voice. We all nodded at her in reply. "Hello," I greeted her. She walked over to Wen and started checking hid vitals. "Hey Wen, how are you feeling today?" She asked him as she changed the bandage on his shoulder. "Better," He said quietly. We all knew what was coming next. "Do I get to go home today? I really am feeling much better." He said anxiously. He asked this every day, and we all knew the answer.

"Wen," Nurse Jackie began, and I sucked in a deep breath. "I know you want to go find Olivia," she was cut off. "That's all you say when you sleep," Charlie said under his breath. She shot him a warning glance and continued to speak. "But you can't do that until we know your arm is fully healed. Then you'll be able to be released." Wen sighed and looked as if he were about to say something, but she cut him off. "Let the police take care of it for now. Relax for a minute, would you? All we need to do is conduct one more test to make sure your arm is able to move correctly and then you'll be on your way."

She turned to the rest of us. "Guys, would you mind leaving so that we can do the test?" Nurse Jackie asked, turning from Wen to point at the door. We all looked at one another, then at Wen, who nodded hesitantly. "Sure," Scott said after a moment, and the rest of us nodded as we walked out of the room.

"Oh, Olivia. I wonder what she's doing right now." I said thoughtfully. "Probably locked in a closet somewhere being tortured at gun point," Stella said glumly, picking at a hole in another one of her sweatshirts and staring at the ground. "Stella!" Charlie and I both exclaimed. I didn't need any thoughts like that in my mind, not now, not later, not ever. "What?" She asked, looking up. I saw that there were tears in her eyes. "It's probably true. I mean, the guy shot Wen. Who knows what he's doing to her?" She slid her arm over her eyes, which I guess she was doing to wipe her tears away. We all sat in silence for a moment before Scott broke it. "Let's just hope she's okay," He said, pulling me closer to him.

The door to recovery room 324 swung open and Wen walked out with a cast over his left arm, and he was dressed in his own clothes. Our families had come up yesterday, and had brought supplies with them, because there was no telling how long that we would be here. "We need to go find her. Now." Wen said with determination and desperation his voice. I wanted to start crying at the sound of his voice. "That may be a little harder than you think. First of all, we have to go tell your Dad and Sydney you're okay, because they haven't seen you when you were conscious, only when you were drugged up. Second of all, what the hell makes you think that you'll be allowed to go out looking for the son of a bitch that almost killed you? You probably need permission from your Dad and Sydney, not to mention the police, and even if they do give you permission, there is a whole freakin boat full of press, reporters, and paparazzi weirdoes out there waiting for us." Stella said in a '_What the hell is wrong with you'_ sort of tone. "She's right, bro," said Charlie. Wen sighed in frustration. "I know. I just really want- _need_ to find her." I gave him a forced smile, hoping that it didn't look that way. "We all want to find her, but that's going to have to wait a couple more hours. Let's just go see your Dad and Sydney for now and figure the rest out later." I said in a comforting voice. He looked at me with sad eyes, and finally nodded. "Ok," he sighed, admitting defeat. We all walked to the waiting room together.

**Wen POV**

I searched the room to see my Dad and Sydney sitting in the far corner holding hands, Georgie sitting next to them with Stella's little brothers. My Dad looked up with concern and relief in his eyes and he and Sydney both jumped up. "Wen!" The next thing I knew there were two pairs of warm, comforting, arm around me, squeezing most of my air out. "Hey guys. How long have you been here?"  
>They both pulled back, giving me room to breathe. "Since yesterday night. We tried to see you, but you were out cold because of the pain meds. We rushed here as fast as we could." Sydney said in a motherly voice. "Thanks. You guys are the best." I smiled as Georgie walked over to me and wrapped her skinny arms around me, handing me a teddy bear from the gift shop in the process.<p>

The four of us (Scott, Mo, Charlie, and Stella stayed behind in the waiting room with their families) walked to the cafeteria and sat at the table furthest from the men's bathroom. We all ate breakfast or lunch or whatever it was supposed to be, because we were all starving, especially me who had been living on a diet of oatmeal and jello for the last three days. After a while my dad got up so that he could use the bathroom, and an idea formed in my head. When my father got back I got up and started walking towards the bathroom, telling them all that I would "Be right back." and walked towards the bathroom. I went into the last stall farthest from the door, pulled out my phone and began to text.

**MEET ME OUTSIDE. WE'LL TLK 2 THE PRESS BUT THEN WE HAVE TO LEAVE PRETTY QUICK**

Sent to: Scott, Mo, Stella, Charlie

I waited a couple of minutes, and then my phone buzzed.

**K. WE'LL BE OUTSIDE**

Sent by: Scott

I put my phone away in the pocket of my jeans and headed towards the back window, silently thanking God that there wasn't anyone else in the bathroom at that moment. It was just big enough to fit my long 6'2 body through. Before I climbed through I took a piece of toilet paper and wrote a few words on it. I left the note next to the window and climbed out.

_I'm sorry guys. I love her and I need to find her. Hope you understand. _

_-Wen_

I hoisted myself up and jumped out the window. I started to run from the building, afraid that my father in the bathroom, reading the note. Unfortunately, I couldn't run fast enough. "Wen, you alright buddy?" I could hear him enter the bathroom to check on me, probably because I had been gone for so long. "Wen? What is this?" It was silent for a couple of seconds and then "Sydney!" he yelled with a sense of pride, but I could tell that he was seconds away from tears. I continued to run, fighting the urge to turn around and scream '_Dad, I'm right here!'_

I continued running until I could see Mo waiving to me to come towards her, a few blocks away from the hospital. "How did you get out?" She said with a confused look on her face. "I don't wanna talk about it." I turned away from her. "Okay," She said, looking over to the others. "Look, there they are!" yelled an eager reporter. "Oh shit." Stella said, sounding annoyed. We were surrounded by flashing lights, screaming reporters, and random passing-by-standers. We started running away from the whirlpool of reporters and paparazzi.

"Wen, Wen, is it true Olivia is that guy's daughter?"

"Is it true that you gave her up so that she wouldn't take you?"

"Did you five know this about her?"

"Stella, are you going to look for her?"

"Is it true that Wendell was shot in his shoulder?"

I stopped running and turned to one of the cameras. The rest of the band looked at me like I was crazy. "What the hell are you doing?" Stella yelled. I ignored her and started speaking into one of the mics pointed in my face. "Olivia if you're out there, I love you and will do whatever it takes to find you." I said, my voice choked up. I felt someone's hand on my shoulder, and saw that it was Charlie's. "We all will." He said quietly. Mo and Stella were back over by me as well, and they both nodded in unison. We turned from the reporters and walked towards Charlie's car. "Come on guy. Let's go." Mo said, pulling my arm. We started running towards the sidewalk where Charlie's car was parked.

"I'm driving." Charlie yelled. Almost as soon as the words came out of his mouth, Stella yelled, "I call shotgun!" And she began to blush immediately. We all climbed in the car and Charlie started driving in a random direction. We had no idea where we were going but we had to escape the press. They didn't need to know where we were going. "I'm coming Olivia. I'm coming."

CHAPTER

8

**Olivia POV**

Anna and I both sat up so fast that we almost hit each other's heads. Anna's eyes widened at the sight of my cell phone. "Dad didn't take that from you?" She asked, her green eyes widening. I nodded slowly, as if I were in a trance. Anna nudged me. "Well?"  
>I wasn't going to call anyone. My voice felt a thousand miles away and I was afraid that someone would hear me.<p>

**Recipients: Mo**

**Is Wen okay? U guys gotta find me, but I dont know were I am. Mo-**

I stopped typing when I noticed the red faced Adam standing over me with a heinous expression. I hadn't noticed him enter the room while I was texting Mo. I wanted to start shaking, to start running, but I couldn't. The first thing that I remembered that I _had _to do was to send the text message. I knew that if Mo received that text there was a small possibility that they might find me and save me. Not taking my eyes off of Adam's face, my thumb hit the _send _button on my phone, and I heard a ding when the message was sent. I felt a tiny sliver of hope.

Adam snarled and grabbed me by my neck, lifting me up off of the bunk. "A cell phone, Ciara? I thought that I could trust you! Where the hell did you even get a cell phone?" He yelled, bits of his saliva spraying in my face. He gripped tighter on my neck, and I started to see black spots. "Dad, stop! You're going to kill her!" I could hear Anna scream. "Girl! Don't speak unless spoken to! Haven't I taught you any manners?" I could hear Debby enter the room, and she didn't help. I felt Adam's hands leave my neck and for a split second I took in a breath of air, but the next thing I knew, Adam had thrown me across the other side of the room, missing the dresser by half of an inch.

I covered my head with my hands, and that reduced the pain a bit. The last thing that I remember was seeing Adam and Anna with duffle bags in their arms, heading out the door.

**Mo POV**

I leaned forward from my spot in the back seat. "Do we have a specific spot in mind?" I asked quietly, trying not to wake Wen up. He was just recovering, so it was understandable why he was so tired. He lay to the left of me while Scott was at my right. Charlie shrugged and didn't turn back to face me. "Anywhere, I guess. Olivia's knight in shining armor is knocked out, and I think that he was the one who had the idea on where to go." He said, glancing back at us in the backseat. I reached out to hit his shoulder, but he didn't even wince. "Charlie, he just came out of the hospital, and he surgery was less than three days ago." I said, making my voice sound stern.

"Yeah, and he's probably in shock. We all were, weren't we?" Stella pointed out. Scott and I nodded in agreement. "Me? In shock? Of course not!" Charlie sputtered. I gave him a look, and leaned back in my seat. "We could go to the police," I offered. Stella shook her head. "The police were already alerted. They aren't going to do anything if we go to them now. Aren't you the one that forced me to watch all of those movies on the Lifetime Channel?" She turned around to stare at me, and I narrowed my eyes. I opened my mouth to say something, but then closed it when I realized that she was right.

I heard my phone buzz from inside of my bag and reached inside of it. "Mohini, if it is your father or mother do not answer it. We're on the run." Stella slipped a pair of dark sunglasses over her eyes and leaned back in her chair. I shook my head at her and rolled my ears, flipping open my phone. I had two text messages.

**Sent from: Olivia**

**Is Wen okay? U guys gotta find me, but I dont know were I am. Mo-**

I didn't know that anyone's eyes could grow as wide as saucers until my own did. "Guys," I exclaimed, staring down at my phone. "Olivia texted me! She's alive, and I think that she is okay! Well, except that the end of the message seems to be cut off." My furrow browed as I tried to understand why she would stop typing in the middle of a text. Of course, I had expected that her kidnapper would have already taken away her phone, but if she still had it then I would have figured that she would be able to finish the message.

Scott's eyebrows rose as he leaned over to look over at the message on my phone that I tried to show him. Stella turned around in her seat, and Charlie tried to, but we all screamed at him to keep his eyes on the road. "What do you think that this means?" Scott asked, looking between Stella and me. I shrugged my shoulders. "She is obviously worried about her boyfriend. Who wouldn't be? I just find it odd that she didn't finish the message." I said, handing the phone to Stella. "What do you think?"

Stella stared at the screen and shrugged. "I don't know. But the one thing I _do _know is that this might be our ticket to finding Olivia. The police could find her phone through this text message. We have to hurry, though, because for all we know, the guy who kidnapped her could have thrown the phone into a lake." She hit Charlie's shoulder. "You have to find a police station, and fast!" She exclaimed. Charlie groaned. "What do I look like, the chauffeur?" He grumbled. "Well, first of all, it's your car and you said you wanted to drive. Second of all, this is one of your band mates that we are talking about, and we have to find her."

One of Wen's eyes opened hesitantly. I turned to look at him. "Wen? Are you awake?" I asked quietly and carefully. I couldn't help smiling myself when a giant grin spread across his face. "I've been awake for a while now, guys. You all talk pretty loud." He sat up straighter in his seat. "Can I see the text that Olivia sent?" He asked, motioning towards my phone. I nodded and handed it over to him. I watched as his eyes traveled over the message as he smiled and blushed. "Why is the end cut off?" He asked, looking up at the four of us. I shrugged. "None of us seem to know. But we are heading to the police office to find out."

He handed the phone back to me after reading the text five more times. I guess that people do that when they are in love, but Scott and I aren't really like that anymore. It doesn't feel that way to me, anyway. To be truthful, I have always had feelings for Charlie, but now Stella is all over him. When did that start? She always knew that Charlie had a crush on me, and I think that he still does. I sighed as I leaned back in my seat.

"Oh yeah, Mo, it says that you have another text." Wen reminded me. I nodded at him in thanks, took the phone from him and opened up the other new message.

**Sent by: Unknown Number**

**Is your little friend Wen better yet? Your friend Olivia was stupid to try and contact you. You wont be able to find her. Lets say that you pay a ransom of, say, 50,000 dollars and she doesn't get hurt again, okay?**

The phone almost fell out of my hand and I noticed Wen staring at me with a worried look in his eye. "Who was the text from?" He asked cautiously. I looked away from him. "Guys, I got a text from an unknown number who says that that if we don't want Olivia to get hurt _again _then we have to pay a ransom of fifty thousand dollars." My voice was quivering. I felt Wen froze beside me, and I saw Stella's eyes widened. I noticed that Charlie started speeding past the speed limit, and Scott stared out his window.

Stella held her hand out for the phone. Her eyes traveled over the message. "So we'll track the bastard and make sure he doesn't touch Olivia! And what the hell? He already hurt her?" Wen was shaking now, from anger. Stella's head snapped up. "Wen, you have to stop it. Your heart rate will go up and you'll pass out, possibly have a seizure, and who knows what will happen after then?" She pointed out. Wen slumped back in his seat.

"Police station coming up in three miles, guys." Charlie reported from his spot in the driver's seat. "Wen, this person probably had a machine that would block out anyway to trace the phone back. I doubt they would walk into something like this unprepared. There is more of a chance of tracing Olivia's phone because I'm guessing that she didn't have any machine that would block out the different ways of tracing the phone back. Of course, the kidnapper could have used the machine on her phone, but that's an entirely different story." Stella's voice trailed off as Wen's eyes narrowed at her.

"How do you even know any of this stuff, Stella?" Charlie asked after a few moments of silence. Stella scoffed. "One, I know everything. Two, I have spent many years of my life watching CSI, and three, my uncle is a cop. Anymore questions?" I could tell that we were all starting to get aggravated again, but we couldn't let that happen. Every time it did, we all fell apart.

"Look. Long story short, we are never gonna know until we try." I cut in before Wen or Stella could say anything else. Charlie pulled up in the police station parking lot a few minutes later, which I thanked him many times for doing so at exactly the right time.

"It looks as if the phone is moving to Mexico." Officer Jeter squinted at the screen of his machine after we had explained everything and given him my phone so that he could try and trace the two texts. He wasn't able to trace the private number one, but he was tracing Olivia's right now. Another cop, Officer Harris, studied the text that I had gotten from the private number. "But didn't the man that kidnapped her seem a bit mentally mixed up?" He asked. I think that every cop in the US had been briefed on what had happened to Olivia.

We nodded unanimously. "So there must be someone working with him." Wen decided. Officer Harris nodded slowly. "Someone who wants money. Looks to me as if this man actually thinks that your friend Olivia here is actually his daughter." He said slowly. He turned to Officer Jeter, who turned to look back at all of us. "They could just be moving her phone so that we'll go and follow." He pointed out. They both stood up. "We are going to go." Officer Harris decided, looking at the copies that they had made of the text messages.

"Can we come?" Wen asked. I knew that he wanted to help his girlfriend desperately. Officer Jeter shook his head. "Sorry, only we licensed all mighty ones can go. Would it make you feel better if we brought back up?" He asked, walking towards a backroom. Officer Harris gave him a sad smile. "Sorry, kid. But at least you know that you are closer to finding her. Sometimes it would take years, it is just three days. Give thanks."

**Olivia POV**

I lay at the back of another van that Adam had that looked like it was from some eighty's movie. Every time I tried to sit up my head hurt like crazy. I touched the side of my head and felt something that felt similar to dirt. When light passes through one of the windows up front I realized that it was dried blood.

I prayed that Mo had gotten my message, but as we crossed into California that little sliver of hope seemed to try and fly away. I wouldn't let it go, that was for sure. I touched the necklace at my neck for comfort.

Anna had fallen asleep across from me, and she looked truly exhausted. She had a bruised lip and a black eye. I wondered what had happened after Adam had thrown me against the wall. I was knocked out of my thoughts and froze when I heard the sound of Adam's loud boots again the bottom of the van coming closer to me. He bent down next to me and put his hand towards my hip. At first I thought he was going to…_do _something, but instead he dug into my pockets and pulled the only thing that was there: My cell phone.

He grabbed me by my wrist and dragged me out the door. We passed Debbie, who was playing on her phone and smirked when she saw me. My head was causing me so much pain; I thought that I was going to pass out. Adam pulled me over to a river, took my phone and threw it in as hard as he could. Then he spun me around to face him. He was moving me so fast, I felt like the colors in the air were swirling. "I will make you into the perfect daughter again." He whispered in my ear. "I should remind you, my favorite part of this process is breaking you." My blood rain cold.

Adam marched me back into the van and let me assure you that once I was in the privacy of the back I threw up the dinner that I had never eaten before passing out in a cold sweat.

CHAPTER

9

**Wen POV**

"You know what I am gonna say, right?" I asked the band once we had gotten outside of the station. They looked between themselves. "No, what?" Mo asked warily. "Isn't it obvious? He wants us to look for Olivia ourselves, right Wen?" Stella asked, turning to me. I nodded quickly. Charlie sighed and opened his mouth, ready to give me a bunch of reasons why we couldn't.

"You know that I have to try." I gave Charlie a pleading look. "Okay, but where would you even start looking? Those cops are going to look somewhere in southern California, right?" Mo was calculating possible routes in her head now. I smiled a bit. "So is that a yes?" I asked. Stella looked at the rest of the band, and the silent Scott who stood behind the rest of us like a shadow, and stepped forward towards me.

"Well, you know no matter what happens I'm always in." She said with a smile. I nodded at her, and turned to Mo. She crossed her arms and seemed to think for a moment. "I suppose so. It wouldn't hurt anyone, would it?" She asked no one in particular. I smiled at her, and turned to Charlie. "You know what my answer is." He said with a small smile.

I looked at Scott lastly. "Hell, yeah," He exclaimed. We all laughed. "I'm into a good search."  
>I stared at them all for a second. "You guys are the best, you know that?" I asked. They all walked past me towards Charlie's car.<p>

"Yeah, yeah."

"We know."

"Flattery will get you nowhere."

I laughed and ran after them.

**Olivia POV**

**4 days later**

I felt a pair of cool hands touch my arm and shake me gently. "Olivia?" A small, raspy voice spoke. It scared me that it actually took some of my energy to open my eyes. I saw Anna's worried face in front of me. "Are you okay?" She asked softly. I tried to nod, but it hurt to move my neck, and I felt a sharp pinch. I tried to look down to see what was wrong, but I couldn't move my eyes to the exact spot.

Anna looked a bit sheepish as well as worried. "You sort of had a piece of glass stuck there. I wasn't sure if I should've pulled it out, but people do that acupuncture thing when they stick needles in their necks all of the time, right? I'm sure it was probably like the same thing." She sounded as if she were trying to reassure herself more than me. "Yeah," I agreed, and found that my voice was hoarse. My throat hurt as well. I sighed and sat up, using my hands and wrists for more support than I probably should have.

When I was sitting up I felt a wave of nausea pass over me, but I resisted the urge to get up and run to the bathroom, partly because I felt weak and because I had no idea where the bathroom was, or where I was, for that matter. I looked around and realized that we were in another room, but this one seemed darker, and I felt a bit more claustrophobic. There was a door towards the back of the room with five deadbolts – that I could see, anyway. There wasn't a dresser in here, just a small door, which I was guessing was a closet.

I noticed that while I sit on a small cot Anna was on the floor, even though there was another cot on the other side on the room. "Are you okay?" She asked again, staring at me intently. I nodded a small nod that I wasn't sure she saw. "Is there a bathroom in here?" I asked in a voice that was barely a whisper. Anna gave me a weird look before nodding. She pointed to a door across from my cot. "Do you need help getting there?" She asked, getting ready to get up.

"No, I'll be fine." I stopped her, even though I had no idea whether or not I could make it. I slowly pushed myself off of the cot, the wave of nausea stronger now. I pointed at Anna and then at the cot, motioning for her to sit on it before I ran to the bathroom. I flung my head over the toilet and, well…what happened after that wasn't exactly pretty.

When I was done…emptying my stomach, I flushed the toilet and took a good look at myself in the mirror. The first thing that I noticed was that there was a long scar running down the side of my face. There was also a thick black ring growing around my black eye. I smiled as I remembered when Wen had his black eye and we had fought for the first time. The smile quickly disappeared. Why was I happy about that? I had to be messed up from that day Adam had thrown me.

My hair was a mess and there were so many knots all over. I looked like a mess. I sighed, as I opened a medicine cabinet, looking for something to put on my black eye. I stopped for a moment; just froze in place. Why would there be a medicine cabinet in this bathroom? I had to admit that this restroom was awfully nice for a room that I was supposed to be held hostage in.

I did open the cabinet, though, and inspect it. I didn't take any of the pills or syrups, but I grabbed some of the tubes of cream and the rolls of bandages, tending to the open wound on my neck. Suddenly I felt thankful for the first aid class that I had taken last summer.

I noticed that I also had a wound on my right arm, and as I did notice it, I felt the pain ripple throughout my arm. I winced in pain and tried not to scream as I treated my arm as well. I glanced towards the door, feeling paranoid about Adam knocking down the door. I started playing with the necklaces around my neck absent mindlessly, thinking of the band. What were they doing at this very moment?

**Mo POV**

"Are you guys sure that this is the best idea?" I asked; staring out the window as the car whizzed past all of the scenery. I knew that we had made a mistake when we had let Wen drive. Even Stella was gripping onto the door handle of the passenger seat. "What do you mean?" Wen asked, not taking his eyes off of the rode. I stared at Charlie incredulously, who just smirked. "This was your idea, wasn't it?" He asked. Before I could answer, he leaned forward towards Wen. "You wreck my car, and you're dead." He said in a deadly tone, smiling. I hoped that he was kidding. I guessed that he was, because he slapped Wen on his shoulder in a playful sort of way.

I glanced at Scott. "How is he sleeping?" I asked no one in particular, just as we sped over a pot hole. I almost hit my head on the roof of the car when the car bounced. I rest my case.

"Yeah, Wen, are you even sure where you're going?" Stella asked, speaking for the first time. She seemed to be deep in thought. Wen nodded, pointing to his ear, to which Stella nodded and leaned back in her seat. "What?" I asked, completely lost. Stella chuckled. "Wen has GPS on his phone, and it's speaking to him. He has headphones in his ears." She explained.

I nodded slowly. "But remind us all exactly _where _we are going? We've been driving…forever. A couple of days at least, and none of us have said anything." I pointed out. Wen huffed. He pulled over to the side of the rode, which I would suggest that he do, because we were on the highway. He turned around to face me, his face looking worried, even though he was trying his best to hide it.

"Well, the cops thought that she might be headed to Mexico, south, right?" He asked, not really asking any of us. Charlie and I nodded anyway. "Yeah," Charlie added. "And you know how there is a chance that the guy could just be setting us up, right?" Wen continued, hoping for us to understand. "Okay and..." Charlie still didn't understand. I did, though. "So you're going the opposite direction of the phone!" I exclaimed, understanding. Wen nodded.

"Wait, so the opposite of south is…" Charlie's voice trailed off as he thought. I placed my hand on his shoulder gently. "South, Charlie. The opposite of south is north." Charlie scoffed. "I knew that." He said quietly. I laughed quietly, and Stella's eyebrows rose as she stared at us through the mirror. I thought I saw her scowl at us, but that could've just been me imagining things.

Wen pulled back onto the highway. "So, how far north are you willing to go?" I asked, trying to make conversation. Wen shrugged. "As far as we need to go to find her. I won't stop looking, I swear Olivia." He whispered the last part, and his eyes got this faraway look.

I leaned back towards the window and sighed, trying to force myself to fall asleep.

**Olivia POV**

Anna's head snapped up when I exited the bathroom. She looked shaken. "Are you better now?" She asked, eying the bandages and cloth that covered my neck and my arm. I nodded, even though it was a bit harder with the bandage now. I walked over to the cot slowly, hoping that I would have to throw up again.

Anna didn't take her eyes off of me. We sat in silence for a while, because we didn't have anything to do. "Should we be sleeping? I mean, why are we in here?" I asked after a while. Even though it hurt my throat to speak, I still tried to. I had sung in front of millions of people with a little sore throat; I could speak to this girl with a sore throat.

Anna glanced at the door before answering. "It's pretty late, actually. I've been waiting up for you to wake up." She explained. "How long have I been asleep?" I asked curiously. Anna looked uncomfortable. "About four days." She mumbled. "What?" I exclaimed, almost falling off of the cot. My brow furrowed as I tried to comprehend this. "Debby is pretty upset – she has had to cook for the past couple of days when that is supposed to be your job. And because Debby is upset, Dad's upset." She shrugged.

"It's his fault, really. He shouldn't have thrown you around like that if he wanted you to do things around the house now." She stared at my black eye again. I turned away quickly so that she couldn't, but I felt dizzy once I did. Anna sensed that she had made me feel uncomfortable, so she changed the subject. "I saved some food for you," Anna said excitedly, clambering off of the cot. She walked over to the small door that I thought was a closet.

She opened it and proved that it was a closet, but she started digging under the blankets and pillows on the ground. My eyes widened slightly when I she returned to the cot with her hands full of cans, and a can opener. "So, what will it be for dinner tonight? You could have…pineapple chunks, or pears, or peaches." She dumped a bunch of canes on the cot. "I also have those little cups of noodles that you just add hot water to. There's a sink in the bathroom, so you could do that. I have a fork somewhere…" She jumped up and started digging in the closet again.

I smiled at how much Anna had done for me even though she barely knew me. Maybe that happened when you were raised the way she was; you got attached to people quickly. I knew that I was pretty attached to her.

She ran back over to me with a fork and a spoon, and a bag of potato chips. "If you're thirsty you can drink the juice from the cans of fruit – sorry that I couldn't grab you anything to drink." I stared at all of the food she had dumped in front of me. "How-what-?" I stared at the food again. Anna laughed, but then looked back over to the door to make sure that no one was coming in.

"Debby has me clean out the pantry and help her cook, and do the dishes. I spend a lot of time around this stuff, and it isn't like Debby actually _watches _what I do." She grinned.

I returned the smile as I opened the bag of potato chips. "We're gonna have a feast tonight." Anna laughed at me as I opened the pears and pineapples. "Is there anything particular that you like?" I asked, looking up from the can that was taking up so much energy for me to open. Anna shook her head. "I'll eat _anything._" I laughed at the way she said that. She grabbed a cup of noodles. "I'll do these." She offered, heading towards the bathroom.

"Hey, Anna?" I croaked, totally ignoring the pain in my throat by now. She looked back at me through the open door of the bathroom. "Yeah?"  
>"I was thinking that maybe after, or while, we eat we could play another game of twenty questions." I said hopefully. There were a lot of questions that I had, and I was hoping that she had things to ask me as well. I wanted to get to know her better.<p>

Anna smiled and nodded as she stood by the sink, waiting for the water to heat up enough. "I'd like that."

CHAPTER

10

**Mo POV**

"We're in New Hampshire. I don't think we should go any farther; maybe we should just wait a while for something to come up." I suggested. I couldn't take this anymore, and I was trying to hide it. I couldn't deal with Wen tossing and turning in the middle of the night, screaming or mumbling about Olivia. I couldn't take Stella sleepwalking when we stopped at hotels. I was tired of Scott staring at every girl that we passed, and ignoring me. The only one who seemed fine was Charlie, yet he wasn't. He barely spoke. We were all cracking and I knew it. We had to rest.

Wen stared at me as if I were a crazy person. I noticed the deep, dark rings under his eyes and the desperation in his eyes. Stella sat next to him on the twin bed, staring into space. Scott was in the lobby, and was supposed to be checking out everything with our room and making sure that we were set, but I wasn't sure. He could be doing anything.

We all sat in silence for a few minutes. I suppose that we were all thinking. After a while, Charlie spoke. "Maybe we should try and get that money to the person who texted you, Mo." He said quietly. I turned to look at him, making sure that he was still sane. "Are you crazy? How the heck are we supposed to get fifty thousand dollars?" I asked incredulously, my eyes so wide that they took up most of my face. Charlie shrugged. "I don't know. We could rob a bank or something. We've made a lot of money with our albums and shows. Why can't we use that money?" He asked, leaning away from me.

Wen looked at me hopefully, considering the idea. Stella turned to Charlie. "We can't because all of that money went to special accounts for each of us that we can use for college." She reminded him. I groaned. "So? Why can't we just take the money out?" Charlie asked, not getting it. I sighed. "Charlie, none of us has access to those accounts until we are nineteen." I pointed out. Charlie shook his head, and I saw the hope in Wen's eyes deflate. "That's stupid. We'll head off to college when we're eighteen." Wen mumbled, throwing himself back on a bed.

"Well, I think that we should head up to Maine, at least." Stella said. Wen nodded into his pillow. "I'm all for it." He mumbled. Charlie shrugged. "We'll see- in the morning tomorrow. Let's just relax for now." For once, Wen didn't fight back. He leaned into the bed and after a few moments, so snores were heard.

I stared out a window, wondering when Scott would get back. Did I want him to come back? I shook the thought out of my head, leaning back in my seat.

**Olivia POV**

I finished drying the dinner dishes, keeping my eyes down on the sink. I learned that if you laid low and shut up everything stayed okay – for a while.

I looked up for just a moment and saw the pantry. The pantry, one of the ingredients to our key to escape. We needed food and water if we were going to try and run away. But how would we get out? I knew that we would need the keys to get out of the house; the keys that never left the belt loop on his jeans. I would have to find a way to grab them somehow. But first I would have to distract him; perhaps knock him out. That would probably work better, but how would I do it?

I stole a glance at my bad arm that was still healing. Debby had a fit when she found out that I had used the first- aid kit in the bathroom, so ten lashes it was for me. I found out how it worked around here fast. Anytime I did something I got one lash with Adam's belt while Debby had the satisfaction of watching. I tried not to scream. Anna couldn't hear; I didn't want her to know what was going on, even though I had a feeling she knew more than I did. I wanted to make sure that she wouldn't think that I was a wimp, at least. I couldn't let Debby have anything to laugh at when I was punished, but sometimes I had to. The pain could get so unbearable.

I still had the open cuts on my back, and they still stung from last night when Anna had poured a bunch of stuff on my back. I didn't pay attention to what happened to things like that anymore. Or maybe it was just that I couldn't remember. My memory had been fried, but I still would take my locket off every night and stare at it. Anna and I would take turns telling each other about our pasts until we fell asleep. Debby didn't hesitate to wake us up at three in the morning to do ridiculous tasks such as washing and combing her wigs, or cleaning out her closet. God, did she have clothes in there…..

Adam walked over to where I stood, drying dishes. An evil smile grew across his face. "Punishment time, Ciara."

I won't go into great detail of how punishment time worked. Just that Debby came into Adam's _special room_ with a bowl of popcorn and Adam would take off his belt. Anna was locked in her room with an encyclopedia and made to copy pages out of it into some old notebook that Adam provided.

Adam's special room was basically a torture chamber, with pistols lining the walls and machetes and knives decorating the door. I didn't see anything else; usually I was in too much pain to appreciate Adam's decorating skills. I did notice, however, that Adam had a giant sheet covering up most of the room. Every night I received ten lashes regardless of what I did earlier that day; because I had "ran away".

Tonight I received a total of twenty lashings, and had burst in to tears at around number ten. After Adam was done with me, he threw me into my room and slammed the door. I lay on my side, on the ground in pain. Adam had snapped my ankle, and I wasn't sure if I could put any weight on it. The scares from the lashes burned in my skin like a brand. I clutched at the floor. Maybe I could tear it apart, run and hide under the ground like a groundhog.

A second later I heard the door close again, and the sound of someone gasping. "Oh my God, what the hell happened to you?" Anna almost screamed, suddenly on the ground with me. She examined my body, starting with my back. She reached under the bed and grabbed a brown bottle, and started opening it. "Anything else?" She asked in a soft voice. Tears streamed down my cheeks. I couldn't take this anymore; I needed to get away….

I sat up quickly, ignoring the pain at the back of head. "That's it. We're getting out of here." I said, ignoring the incredulous look that grew across Anna's face. "Are you kidding? How do you think we are going to do that? We can't travel anywhere you're…broken." Her voice cracked. "Sorry," She whispered, looking away. I shook my head. "We'll get out of here, somehow." I looked around the room for a possible weapon, and then my eyes locked on the closet. Dinner the other night.

I dove into the bottom of the closet on my hands and knees, ignoring the pain the erupted from my ankle as I did so. I heard Anna walk up behind me. "Olivia..." Her voice trailed off when I pulled out the fork, holding it up as if it were the key to the world. Anna seemed to be catching on now. "You're going to stab my father with a knife." It more of a statement than a question. I nodded. "Just so that I can distract him." Anna started shaking her head quickly, as if there were something wrong with her neck. She opened her mouth and started stuttering. "I mean, it's what we have to do to get out of here." I wondered if I had made her upset.

"It won't be enough. You need something else." She walked back over to the dresser and picked up her soup, poking around with her spoon. She had stopped shaking her head by now; thank God. It had been freaking me out. I thought for a moment, staring at her as she slurped her soup. My face lit up as an idea came to me. "Hot water, Anna! I'll dump hot water on him!" I probably sounded delirious. Anna stared at me for a moment as I was. "Boiling water, you mean? Cause that could work." She considered the idea.

I smiled and nodded my head. "Come on, Anna! We can do this!" I said in an excited whisper. Anna smiled a bit, but it disappeared in an instant. "What do we do about Debby?" She asked in a small voice. She was so quiet that I almost didn't hear her. I looked away. "I don't know. I'll have to think about it." I said, my mind already loaded with ideas. Anna stared at me again for a moment, and shrugged. "Whatever." She walked into the bathroom.

A few seconds later, Anna's head poked out of the door, her face pale. "Olivia?" She croaked. I looked up, snapping out of my thoughts. "Yeah?" Anna looked both ways as if there were someone in the room. "I – I….there is a big, no, _huge _red, wet spot…" Her voice trailed off. I didn't know what to say to this. I got up off of the cot, trying not to lean on the bad ankle, but I still felt pain. "Has anyone ever told you what a period is?"

"So I just got my first period?" Anna asked after I had explained everything. I nodded. "So you're kinda a woman now. I mean, you can get pregnant." I shrugged. "You know, my name isn't Anna." She said in a whisper. I nodded. "You told me." She hesitated for a moment. "My name is Avril. You know, like the French word for the April, because my birthday is in April." Anna looked away. "I know that it sounds pretty stupid. I mean, that's what Debby thinks." She shook her head.

"No way in hell that name could be stupid. It is beautiful. And you kind of remind me of Avril Lavigne, too." I chuckled, and Anna, I mean, Avril, gave me a grateful smile. She leaned in, her feet folded like a pretzel. "Okay, so can I ask you something?" She lowered her voice to a whisper. I nodded. Sure, anything. Shoot." I leaned in as well, positioning myself so that my ankle would hurt so badly. "Does it come all of the time? Like, when?" She asked, looking worried. I chuckled. "Yeah, it comes once a month. It's gonna be irregular, though, because you just got yours. I mean, the last time I had my period was…" My voice trailed off and my face went pale.

"What is it, Olivia?" Avril asked. "What's todays date?" I asked. She looked at me oddly. "The fourteenth, why?" She asked. I shook my head. "I should've gotten my period by now. I'm eleven days late." Avril shrugged. "So?" I looked up at her, my eyes as wide as saucers. "Wasn't Ciara pregnant when…?" I couldn't finish the sentence. Ciara, the real Ciara, had been pregnant with Adam's child before he killed her. From what I understood, Adam and Debby were trying to have a child, but if that didn't work out I was the backup plan….

Anna nodded slowly, her eyes widening as well. "But, but, it has only been eleven days." I tried to reassure myself. Anna shook her head. "Ciara thought she was pregnant after ten days, so she took a few pregnancy tests and two were positive and one was negative. Dad took her to the doctor later that day, and he did and test and said that she was." Anna jumped up and opened the medicine cabinet and started digging around. I was frozen. I couldn't do this.

Anna walked back over to me and handed me three different pregnancy tests. I looked up at her, worry clear in my eyes. She shrugged. "You gave me a pad, so I owe you." I swear, if she was trying to make a joke I was going to strangle her right now. She walked out of the bathroom and closed the door gently on her way out.

Avril looked up at me with curious eyes, her dark red hair peeking out from under the beanie she wore in a messy braid. She always wore different hats when we were in the room together, because Debby and Adam hated it when she wore them around the house. Hats seemed like the only thing Avril had plenty of. She was obsessed. "I would trade them all in a heartbeat," She told me, "If I could just get out of this hellhole." The day Debby gave her a black eye. That cut was still on the side of her face from when Debby threw the knife at her.

"So…is Livy a mommy?" She asked, trying to make light of things. I held up all three positive pregnancy tests for her to see, and her eyes widened slightly. "Wow. And it is pretty early. So this means that your hormone levels are pretty high." She reasoned. My eyebrows rose at what she knew. "You know what that means, right?" She asked with an amused smirk. I shook my head, still in a daze. "You're having a bouncing baby boy." Avril informed me. I smiled a bit and sat down on the bottom bunk, resting. "So I am going to guess that Wen is the father." Avril said, eyeing my locket. "I mean, my Dad didn't do anything to you, did he?" The smile vanished from her face. I shook my head. "No, no, it's Wen." I said with a smile.

"So, I thought about what we can do about Debby, and, well, you know how she was teaching you how to make the perfect margarita?" She asked, waiting for my answer. I nodded, wincing. I couldn't get the mixture right, so Debby had thrown the entire glass on my head. I got five lashings for that one, and two for breaking Debby's favorite margarita glass.

"Well, I know how to make them just the way she likes. What if we slipped some of this into her drink if I made her one?" She held up a small bottle of red liquid. "What is that, An- Avril?" I asked, feeling alarmed. Avril laughed. "Chill, Olivia. It's Benadryl. I used to have trouble with allergies when I was younger all of the time." She laughed. "It knocks you out for like, five hours. That should be enough time, right?" She asked, turning back to me. I stared at the bottle. "Let's do it." I announced, reaching for the first-aid kit under the bed to fix up my ankle.

"Do me a favor, take the sheets from the top bunk and the comforter and grab some food and stuff and wrap it up? You should take some pads and toilet paper, too." I added. "I'll hand you the first aid kit when I'm done," Avril nodded and climbed up the ladder and setting to work.

We had to get out of here as quick as we could. Now that there was quite a possibility that I was in control of both myself and someone growing inside of me, this felt more urgent. Not to mention Avril, who I had come to love like a little sister. We were leaving, first thing tomorrow morning.

I'm coming Wen. I'm coming.

CHAPTER

11

**Olivia POV**

"What would you like for dinner, Dad?" I asked, standing outside of the kitchen area. I knew that if I started cooking without asking him anything I would be in trouble. I couldn't risk anything now. Adam grunted and turned to Debby. "What would you like, Debby?" He asked, his greasy eyebrows rising up and down. Ew. I didn't know how Debby could stand him, but then again, she was only here for money. The ransom she expected to get from my friends.

Debby shrugged. "Let the midget pick," She shrugged, flapping her hand back towards Avril, who sat in the chair next to her. Tonight she was allowed to eat with the both of them because she had been "behaving herself". I just hated the way the treated her like she was some sort of pet. That would end. Avril squirmed in her seat a bit before answering. "Could you make pasta, please?" She asked, not making eye contact with me. I nodded quickly, fleeing to the pantry.

I climbed up on the ladder that rested on one of the many shelves. This pantry was huge; almost as big as one of those giant libraries you saw in castles when you read about in fairytales. I climbed up slowly, twisting my foot in different directions so that I wouldn't feel so much pain. I stopped climbing when I saw a blue comforter sticking out of a corner, grabbed it, and climbed down, almost tumbling in the process. I sat on the ground of the pantry for a quick moment, running through all of the supplies in the makeshift bag. First aid kit, toilet paper, a bunch of canned foods, a pleather of pads, some sheets from our bed, and a can opener. I grabbed a box of pasta and left the pantry with the comforter in my hand farthest from the dining table.

I walked swiftly into the kitchen, stuffing the bag into a cabinet and grabbed a colander before closing it. I stole a quick glance back towards the dining table; Debby was playing on her phone, Adam was writing in what looked like a notebook, and Avril was playing with her braid nervously. She caught my glance and winked; something that I had taught her how to do recently. I winked back, and set to work boiling two pots of water. Now how was this going to work? For a second my mind was blank, and I couldn't remember anything that Avril and I had discussed last night.

Debby stood up after a moment. "I'm going to bed," she mumbled. Adam's eyebrows rose. "Why? She just started making dinner. Don't you want to eat a little?" He asked, worry clear in his voice. Why didn't he ever speak to Avril like that? Or me? I mean, wasn't I supposed to be his daughter as well?

Debby was already halfway towards the room. "I feel kind of hung over from those margarita's I had earlier." She moaned, slamming the door to their bedroom. Adam turned and gave Avril and evil look, but Avril looked away. "Daddy, I feel real tired, dizzy like. Can I go lay down?" She asked, flashing puppy dog eyes. I kept myself busy by dumping pasta into one of the pots, staring as the water bubbled up.

Adam stared at Avril for a moment with a loving gaze, which surprised me. Was he on drugs? I half expected him to slap her for speaking out of turn or for making Debby feel like she was having a hangover practically five minutes after she had those margaritas, but he didn't.

"There must be a bug going around." He sighed, nodding. "Why don't you go into your room and take a nap? I'll call you out when dinner is ready. You should eat just a little something." He said almost…lovingly? I didn't know what to think; I just turned back towards my work. I looked over the hot water again. That wouldn't do much. Maybe oil? I grabbed a frying pan and emptied and entire bottle of cooking oil. Avril stared at me for a moment, but headed into the bedroom. For a moment I thought that Adam wasn't going to lock the door, but he proved me wrong as he pulled himself out of his seat and

He stood by the door for a few seconds, staring into the fire that burned in the fireplace.

I sighed, staring at the two boiling pots in front of my, the fork and a random knife I had grabbed set next to it. I felt odd; I had never hurt anyone deliberately this way before. I sighed and touched the locket at my neck, remembering why I had to do this.

We'd always be more than a band.

**Stella POV**

"Why don't we stop and look here?" Wen asked. Mo slowed the car down and started moving towards the forest he suggested. The only thing I had to say was that this thing had great mileage. We had been driving nonstop since the last hotel. I slid the headphones off of my ears and rested them underneath my neck so that I could hear. "You want to search through a forest? Don't you think that is a little…complicated?" I asked, avoiding the scowl that Wen shot my way.

Charlie shook his head. "I think that we can cover it. I mean, we made it all this way, to _Maine._ I think that we can search a little forest." He stared outside of the window, eyeing the forest. Scott huffed. "I _am not _checking a forest at this point. It rains all of the time in Maine, and we have no freaking idea what the hell could be in there." He pointed out. I guess that he was trying to sound concerned, but he was really just annoying me right now. I turned around and was about to say something, but Wen interrupted me. I couldn't help but notice how Mo made no use to stop me as she usually did.

"Can we just look? We have our hoodies, cell phones….. flashlights in the back. What else do we really need?" He asked, already out of the door. I shook my head as I followed after him. I had been going along with Wen's crazy ideas during this trip, but I have to admit that I was kind of fed up. I stomped into the forest thick with oak trees, pretty much the only things that we had seen while we were here. Wen trudged ahead of me, with Mo and Charlie slightly behind. I guess that Scott was parking the car. Whatever.

After trudging for what seemed like _hours_, it started to rain. At first, it was just a light drizzle, but soon it grew to thunder and lightning wise. I shot Wen a deathly glare. "You really think that we are going to find something here? Really, Wen? There is nothing here! Who knows where the hell she is? You're wasting your time, our time! We could be helping the police with this, actual trained professionals who know what they are doing, not her seventeen year old boyfriend!" I screamed, thunder covering my voice. I could see Mo's startled face when there was another flash of lightning. I never snapped at Wen like that.

Charlie reached into his pack and pulled out a flashlight, not hesitating to switch it on. Wen whirled around to face me, and I saw that his face was twisted in anger. "What is with _you_? All depressed and moping around everywhere. You never have faith in anything anymore! All depressed just because there is a possibility that Charlie is more interested in Mo than you!" He screamed, following my suit. I was frozen for a moment, my mouth slightly open. Lightning flashed in the background, but I couldn't see it.

Charlie was staring at me; I could feel his eyes burning holes in my body. But all I felt was anger; all of the emotion that I had been feeling for the past two and a half weeks erupting. "Shut up! You don't know anything! If you did then we wouldn't be standing in the middle of some freaking _forest_ somewhere while your girlfriend is suffering with some madman-" I was cut off by the sound of thunder erupting again.

Wen stared at me as if he couldn't believe what I had just said. "Well at least I don't follow someone around with pitiful eyes, hoping, just hoping that he would happen to turn around and catch a glimpse of me..." He did a fake impersonation of my voice that was many octaves too high.

"SHUT UP!" I screamed; the wind and thunder almost overpowering my voice. "AT LEAST I DIDN'T LET OLIVIA GET KIDNAPPED BECAUSE I DECIDED TO MOUTH OFF AND GOT SHOT!" I probably would've said something else, but I was knocked to the ground. When I actually registered what happened, I looked up and saw Wen standing over me, guilt written across his face. "Stella," He started, but I felt a pair of warm arms around my waist and found that Charlie had pulled me up and into his arms. "What the hell is wrong with the both of you?" He asked. Sure, he voice was loud, but not nearly as loud as Wen and I had been.

"We know that you guys are fried and upset and tired and scared, but this needs to stop!" He said sternly, looking between the two of us. I didn't say anything; just stared at Wen and placed a hand over the bruise that I was sure was growing on the side of my face. Charlie shook his head. "What was up with that? You don't ever hit a girl! Didn't anyone ever tell you that?" Charlie started walking up to him threateningly, but it didn't exactly do much seeing as Wen towered over him.

Wen stared at me for a while, then Mo, who was clutching her arms and sobbing quietly, and finally Charlie. "I'm so sorry," He mumbled, taking off deeper into the woods. I swear that I had never seen that kid run so fast before. I was starting to regret some of the things that I had said, and I was trying not to cry. Stella Yamada never cried. Never.

Charlie walked over to me and wrapped me in his arms. We stood like that for a while, and not once did my hand leave my right cheek.

Charlie unwrapped his arms from around me, but left one around my shoulders. I winced when a tear rolled down my cheek. "We have to go after him." I surprised myself by whispering. The rain was coming down harder now, and we had to find a hotel or something. We were all over tired, and we could get sick from being out in the rain so long without anything on. I mean, we had hoodies on, but the ones that Mo and Charlie wore were pretty thin.

Charlie hesitated, but nodded slowly and aimed his flashlight towards the thick spot of woods where Wen had run off. "Let's go."

CHAPTER

12

The group started running in the direction that Wen had run off in, the wind whipping everyone's hair back, even though Mo had her long dark hair in a ponytail. The wind was blowing rain in Stella's eyes, making it harder for her to see. It was growing darker in the forest because of the late hour, and the flashlight that Charlie held was dimming. Mo opened her bag and started to dig for batteries as she ran.

Stella couldn't think; her mind was blank from what had just happened. Charlie kept her hand tight in his, but it only gave little comfort. Stella was sure that if this had been any other time she would be thrilled, but right now she couldn't care less.

"Oof!" Stella and Charlie's heads whipped around as Mo toppled to the ground after she tripped over a tree branch. Charlie ran over to Mo while Stella stood frozen. She couldn't take this. Everything was falling apart, just like Rising Star. Charlie helped Mo up on her feet, but Mo winced and hissed when she tried to put weight on her right leg. Stella had to close her eyes when she saw the blood running down from Mo's nose. Stella felt sick around blood ever since that day when Olivia had been taken.

"Stell, it's okay, you can open your eyes now." Stella heard Mo said. Mo's voice was muffled because of the tissue that she held up to her nose that was partially covering her mouth. Mo tried to smile, but Stella couldn't even relate. She started running off in a random direction, hoping to find Wen. She didn't turn around when she heard other footsteps behind her. "Stella! We have to stick together." She felt Charlie's hand on her shoulder and allowed the tears that she had been holding in for so long began rolling silently down her cheeks.

"It's okay, Stella. We'll find Wen and Olivia, and…"

"And what, Charlie? Everything will be okay? We'll live happily ever after? Because I sure as hell know that isn't how it is going to work out. I just…I just need them to be okay, you know?" She began sobbing, not paying attention to Mo who was leaning on Charlie's shoulder and rubbing Stella's back. Stella would have said more, but was interrupted when an ear-piercing scream was heard somewhere in the forest. "Oh, no; Oh, _God._" Stella moaned into Charlie's chest.

_**Four hours ago**_

Olivia watched as Adam sat back down in his chair, obviously waiting to be served. Olivia needed some way to distract him, but how? "Look, a spider is crawling on your leg!" Olivia exclaimed in her hoarse voice. Adam jumped up and started running towards a closet for bug spray. Olivia was surprised that it had worked so well. She quickly picked up the pan of oil. The weight of the pan was hard on her arm, but she ignored that pain and swung the pan towards Adam, taking a step away as he screamed.

Not wasting any time, Olivia quickly grabbed the pot of water. This was defiantly heavier than the pan of oil had been, but she lugged it over and dumped it over Adam's head. He screamed out in agony as the water crashed over his already red skin. That was going to leave a nasty burn. Olivia stood there for a moment, but quickly ran back over to where the fork and knife were sitting on the counter and armed both of her hands with her possible weapons.

Adam lunged for her. "YOH FUCKING LITTLE BITCH!" He screamed. Olivia jumped back and screamed as well. It could've been from the pain that both her arm and leg were supplying, or maybe just because she was scared, but Olivia didn't have time to think about it now. She was doing this for Avril, for Wen, Stella, Mo, and Charlie. For her unborn baby boy, for _herself._

He started walking towards his torture chamber to gather some weapons, or to get Avril. Olivia couldn't tell, but she wasn't going to take the chance. She jumped onto Adam's back. "NO!" She screamed. "NO, NO, NO!" She stabbed the knife into Adam's arm and dragged in towards his hand, and Adam howled out again, reaching behind his back for Olivia. She dropped the knife, not able to hold onto it the way that Adam was moving around the room like a bull.

Adam stumbled towards the dining table and pushed it into the large fireplace. Olivia's eyes widened. She forgot to hold onto Adam's neck and he knocked her off of his back easily. Olivia fell to the ground with a loud thud, and Adam swung a kick to her ribs, knocking the wind out of her. Would that hurt the baby? Olivia didn't know, but if he had hurt her baby he was dead.

Olivia had a vision of the ninja movies she had watched with Charlie. She rolled away from Adam just before he swung another kick at her stomach, and then swung her legs out to stop his feet. His legs swung out from under him as he fell to the ground, making a louder thud than Olivia got up on her knees and studied Adam. He was still breathing, dammit. Olivia caught herself. She didn't want to be thinking back thoughts about this man; even after all he had done to her. She scrambled up quickly, looking for something to hit him with. If she could just get him unconscious, then she could grab the key and run out of here. The light from the fire was burning her eyes. The fire had totally consumed the dining table, and had caught onto the bookcase. The house would burn down soon, and she and Avril needed to be out _before _that.

The room was filled with smoke, making it harder to breathe.

Olivia heard a thud, and turned to look at the bedroom door. "Avril?" Olivia asked, panic clear in her voice. "Let me out, let me out! I-I, I can't! FIRE!" She screamed into the door. Adam jumped up. "I'm coming, baby!" He exclaimed. Olivia turned, looking for something to throw at him. Her eyes locked on a vase full of dead flowers. She ran towards it, with Adam following her. She crashed the vase down on Adam's head, and she fell to her knees with him as she studied the man.

He was still breathing, but bleeding from his head, nose and neck. Olivia couldn't help wanting to throw up at the sight of him. Looking down now, she saw the dead flowers that lay next to her in a pool of dirty water. She let out a labored breath, and ripped the keys from the chain around Adam's neck. "Olivia! Olivia! Mommy, _someone!"_ Avril screamed from inside of the bedroom. Olivia guessed that she was afraid of fire. Olivia wasn't a big fan of it either, considering that her mother had died in a fire. She ran to the bedroom door, fumbling with the different keys. "I'm coming, I'm coming," she croaked, the smoke making it harder to breath. "Hurry, hurry!" Avril exclaimed, not exactly screaming now. Olivia got all of the locks undone, and Avril flung the door open, the girls' bags in both of her hands. She stared at Olivia, her eyes wide in fear.

"Come on!" Olivia screamed, pulling Avril's arm. She stood frozen, staring at the sight before her. Olivia tugged her along, not wanting her to see what she had done to her father. _We were going to be in freaking therapy forever._

Avril ran after Olivia, trying to look away from the fire. There were five locks on this door, and it was taking Olivia forever to find the right keys. "Hurry, Livy, hurry!" She had never heard Avril sound so…young.

Charlie was running, Mo on his back and Stella by his side. "Wen?" They called. Stella ran ahead while Charlie set Mo down for a moment. He needed a break; they had to be running for at least thirty minutes straight. "GUYS!" Charlie heard Stella scream from wherever she was in the forest. Mo and Charlie shared a look before he picked Mo up bridal style and took off running.

"Oh, my God," Charlie breathed when he saw the sight before him. Stella stood behind Wen, who was crouched down beside a dead body that looked too much like Olivia….

"You think that it is her?" Mo asked in a voice that was barely a whisper. No one answered; all that could be heard was the sound of wind rustling the trees and thunder crashing, rain crashing down to the ground as if the sky was angry with the band for some reason.

Wen doubled over and threw up beside a rock. Mo would normally be repulsed, but she wanted to do the same at this moment. "Who would hide a body here…?" She asked. Stella shrugged. "We are pretty deep in this forest." She pointed out, not taking her eyes off of Wen, who now lay on the soggy, wet ground. "Wen….this might not be her body." Charlie pointed out. Wen shook his head. "I…cant. Looking just makes it worse." His voice was so soft.

"Come on, Wen. Just a little bit more." Stella put her hand on his shoulder and he looked up at her. She could see pain, confusion, doubt, all in his eyes. "We can do this." She whispered. Mo nodded, and so did Charlie. They all sat in a circle, a little bit farther away from the corpse. "We'll always be more than a band." Mo said, making her voice sound strong. If only she could feel that way as well.

By now Olivia had already had three locks unlocked, and she was fumbling with the last two locks. She paused when she heard footsteps behind her, and whirled around to see Debby staring at her with wild eyes, a pistol pointed at her ribs. "Debby?" Avril whispered her name as if it were a curse word. Debby laughed, but the sound was not comforting. "Allergy meds? Really? Exactly how fucking _stupid_ do you think I am?" She narrowed her eyes when she saw the keys in Olivia's hand. She was clutching them so hard that her knuckles were white. "Hand the keys over, bitch." Avril felt like she couldn't breathe. Maybe it was because of the smoke. Olivia shook her head. "No," she whispered. Olivia felt like she might pass out because of how much air she was getting in.

"Excuse me, I thought I heard you say no," Debby cackled. Olivia shook her head again, reaching for Avril's hand. Since none of her hands were free she grabbed Avril's wrist. Debby shook her head. "If only your friends had paid the damn ransom..." The she shot the pistol. It moved so fast, but Olivia pushed Avril out of the way. She had her eyes closed shut. When she didn't feel anything touch her, she cracked on eye open. Debby was fumbling around with the pistol, opening it or something.

Olivia looked back down at the door, remembering that she had the keys again, but she didn't need them. Debby had shot the last two bolts on the door, not Olivia or Avril. "Damn! Why the hell doesn't he have more than one bullet in this damn thing?" Debby screamed. Olivia wasted no time at all, pulling the door open and pushing Avril out into the pouring rain. She ran after her just as Debby started running towards her. She slammed the door behind her, holding it closed as she handed the keys to Avril.

Avril fumbled around with the keys in the locks that were still there, trying to lock Debby back in. Olivia watched her intently as she did, for each time Debby slammed against the door Olivia worried more and more about her baby. "I hear hell is hot, Debby!" She screamed into the door. "_Burn forever!"_

"Got it!" Avril exclaimed. She hadn't locked all of the locks, but they needed to get away. Olivia grabbed her wrist and started running from the burning building.

"I'll get you, you bitch! I will get out!" Debby screeched behind them. Olivia whirled around when she heard more gun shots. Just how many freaking guns did Adam have, exactly? "Olivia!" Avril moaned, pointing to her bleeding foot. Olivia had no idea how that had happened, but she stopped running as they hid behind the van. Amongst the keys they had she did not find any car keys. "Are you okay?" Olivia asked, coughing as well. Avril nodded. "We have to keep going." She reminded Olivia. Olivia nodded. "But one thing's for sure, babe. We've escaped out of hell." Avril said in an excited voice.

"I think that it is time to head back. It is pretty late, and the storm is just getting worse… Scott is probably waiting for us." Mo pointed out. Wen had been mute ever since they saw the corpse, and Charlie just nodded. Stella shook her head. "No…guys, I see something." She took off running. "Stella what do you…?" Charlie took off running after her. Wen helped Mo to lean on him, and the pair started walking after Charlie and Stella.

Olivia and Avril started running deeper into the woods, but stopped Olivia. "Olivia! What about your arm?" She asked. Olivia could care less. She heard Avril wheezing, and that was a sign that she wasn't getting enough air in because of all the smoke she had inhaled.

Olivia rolled her eyes and huffed, but glanced down at her arm anyway and realized that there was a piece of glass stuck into it. She hadn't even realized it; it must've been from the flower vase. Now that she saw it she felt the pain shoot through her body, but she shook her head at Avril, pushing her along. "Not now. We have to get as far away as we can. The house is burning, and we don't want to burn with it." She started walking towards the path that Adam had driven them to the house on. How long had they been there? Olivia couldn't remember right now.

Avril was coughing even more, and it was worrying Olivia. She wanted to pick her up and carry her, but she knew that Avril was too heavy for her to carry. Nevertheless…

Olivia picked Avril up and held her close to her chest. Avril tried to protest, but Olivia shook her head. "You're actually pretty lite," She commented. Avril shook her head, but didn't say anything. "Livy, my throat is itchy." She mumbled.

Olivia nodded. "I'm sorry. We'll get you something to drink in a little bit." She said softly, feeling her sore throat as she moved closer to the trees. She had to but Avril down after a while because of her arm and her ankle, but Avril still looked grateful. "Hold onto my hand or the bag or something. It's so dark in here, I don't want to lose you, you know?" Olivia asked. Avril nodded. She looked so tired, so dazed. "I'll make a deal with you. When we get a little farther away, we can eat, okay?" She asked. Avril perked up at this a bit and nodded.

The pair stumbled and staggered what Olivia would guess was about a couple hundred feet, when she felt a large pain in my stomach, and doubled over. "Are you okay, Olivia?" Avril asked; her face twisted into worry. She nodded silently, trying to ignore the pain. Was it the baby? She wouldn't lose this child. She knew that she wouldn't. Olivia felt Avril shaking in her arms, and moaned as tears fell down her face. She just wanted to go home; to be with Wen and Gram. Who cares if they went on tour? Olivia just wanted to be safe somewhere, it someone's arms, where everything was all better.

She couldn't do this anymore. It was hurting, the pain….

Avril was clutching onto Olivia's shirt so tightly that her knuckles were white. "Livia, I'm scared. I want my mom." She moaned into her shirt. Olivia nodded. "I know, Avril. I want my Gram, and Wen, and Stella, Mo, Charlie..." Her voice trailed off when she thought about Scott. How did she feel about him? She wasn't all too thrilled when he had joined the band, but he was a good guitar player for the most part. They got along.

Olivia squeezed her closer to my body. "Come on. We got to get a little bit farther away, and then you can eat." She looked up at Olivia, tears in her eyes. "First you're gonna have to fix that." She pointed to the glass that was still stuck in Olivia's arm. She grimaced, but nodded. "Okay, but since you want to be a doctor when you grow up, maybe you could help me?" She asked, hoping that she wouldn't have to take care of it herself. Avril shrugged. "Okay."

She stared at Olivia's arm, trying to keep from staring at all of the other injuries. She grabbed the first aid kit from the bag without a word. Her red hair looked black because of the lack of light and all of the rain that had fallen into it. She had a baseball cap on, but had taken it off a couple of minutes ago because she said it was bothering her; it smelt too much like smoke.

She stared at Olivia again. "We're gonna have to do this pretty quick, cause it is already dark. Here, I'll help you get the sweater off." Even with the sweater that Olivia wore, it didn't make much of a difference. Avril bit her lip. "Livy, your skin is so hot." That was odd. Olivia's teeth chattered. "But I'm f-f-f-freezing." She stuttered. Avril gave her an incredulous look, but shook her head as she pulled Olivia's shirt sleeve down.

"Okay, so I'm gonna pull the glass out, and after I do, I need you to bunch up your sweater and push really hard on the spot where the glass was, m'kay?" She asked, pulling some boxes out of the first aid kit. Olivia made a face, but nodded anyway. "At the count of three, okay?"

Olivia scrunched up the material on two and Avril yanked out the glass, tossing it aside. She pushed down on Olivia's hand that covered the bleeding wound, causing Olivia to cry out. Avril's hands flew back. "Oh, God, I'm so sorry," She moaned.

Olivia gulped in air as if she couldn't breathe. "It's okay, you actually did really good. Thanks, it just hurts." She closed her eyes and moaned. Avril stared for a moment, but move along, wiping the wound with wipes and wrapped it up in gauze. "Wow." Olivia commented as she Avril work. "You're pretty good at this. You'll make a good doctor when you're older. I can't wait to tell everybody how you took care of me." She smiled.

Avril laughed, but Olivia winced as a ripple of pain passed through her. She screamed. Avril held her hands still on Olivia's arm as she stared at her, alarmed. "What? What is it? What did I do?"

"I think-" Olivia's voice broke as spasms took her breath away. She wrapped her arms around her stomach, around her baby, trying to keep the pain way from her unborn child.

"What can I do?" Avril asked frantically.

**Olivia POV**

I knew I was hyperventilating, and it was causing me even more pain, as my sharp, rapid intakes of breath made my bruised ribs twinge. My vision started to grow blurry, and it was getting even darker as I struggled to remain conscious. Through the fog seeping into my mind, I could hear a muffled voice, but it wasn't speaking. I tried to concentrate on the voice. It was soft and shaky, but it was beautiful.

"-reach for my hand cause it's held out for you, my shoulders are small, but you can cry on them too -"

I know that song. That's our song. Lemonade Mouth, but that wasn't Mo singing, or Wen or Stella or Charlie. It was Avril. I had to calm down, to stay with her…make sure that she was safe.

"Thank you," I whispered. "Are you okay?" Avril whispered. "I'm not sure. I'm still pretty sick, and it might be because of the baby. But we still need to get further away before we can rest for the night. Do you think you can help me up?" Avril gave me another incredulous look and didn't make any move to help me. "What?" I asked, confused.

"Well, um, you're still pretty hot…" Her voice trailed off as she erupted into another coughing fit. I looked her over, worrying that she had inhaled too much smoke. "Are you sure that you're okay?" I asked suspiciously. Avril shook her head. "It's nothing; I'm just really thirsty is all." She brushed my question off. I thought for a moment. "Yeah, I think I am too."

Avril stared at me again. "You should eat too, Liv. He is gone now; we can eat whenever we want." She pointed out. The thought of food made me want to throw up. "Avril, we don't know how long we are going to need the food, and we don't have a lot. I feel way too sick to be eating, and I don't want to eat it just to throw it back up again." Avril thought for a moment. "But you'll be eating for two, not just one." She pointed out. I sighed.

"Avril, we don't have time to argue. Come on," I motioned for her to follow me deeper into the forest. She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, but still followed me anyway. After walking for what seemed like hours, I stopped Avril. I needed to rest for a moment. "I think this is good, Avril. We should stop now." I threw my bag to the ground and fell next to it heavily, wincing as I hit the ground. I pulled the sack of food towards me, and began pulling out cans while Avril played with the can opener.

"Here, I'm pretty sure this is canned pears. You can drink the juice so you won't be so thirsty. Do you still have that can opener?" Avril nodded, holding the can opener up in the air.

"Will you please eat, Olivia? Just try one bite," she pleaded. I was shaking badly now, tremors racking my body and causing even more pain in my ribs. "Avril, I really don't think I can. Please just eat. Don't worry about me." I felt her hand land on my arms, which were wrapped around my body, trying to hold myself together. I am really, really sick.

"Livy, you're really hot! Why are you shaking so badly? Is it the baby?" She asked. I tried to shake my head. "I'm actually f-f-f-freezing, A-A-Avril," My teeth began to chatter again. She opened her mouth again, but I cut her off. "Please, Avril, just eat."

Her reply was the sound of her soft chewing. Leaves on the ground rustled beneath me as I tried to situate myself into a more comfortable position, but every movement I made was excruciating. My mind began to race at the thought of not being able to continue on.

Could I send her off alone?

I pulled at my chest, trying to loosen whatever knot was inside, keeping me from taking a full breath. Avril finished quickly, and came scrambling back over to me. "What is it? How come you're not talking? What's wrong?" she cried, frantic now.

The more I tried to talk, the harder it was to breathe, so I gave up my attempts, just sitting there, until it started to rain again. Too exhausted to even care about myself getting soaked at this point, I was still worried about Avril catching a cold. She probably had already. "Avril," I wheezed. "Trash bag. Go. Into trash bag. Rain."

She cocked her head at me, confused. "What? You want me to go in the trash bag? I'm not supposed to play in plastic bags. I could suffocate. You learn that at the age of like, four." She pointed out. "Head out," I choked. "Now." Looking at me warily, she climbed into the bag, folding her legs and scrunching her arms together. "Like this?" She asked warily.

I tried to reply, but it came out as a faint moan instead. Locking eyes with her, I blinked. My vision started to blur, and I scrunched my eyes shut, trying to clear them. Opening them was exceedingly difficult, and everything was getting fuzzier and fuzzier. My back slipped down the tree that I had been leaning on, and the blinding pain I felt on impact with the ground and Avril's anguished cry were the last things I remembered as the world around me fell away.

CHAPTER

13

Stella Yamada never cried. Not when she broke her leg jumping off of a trampoline, not when her dog died, not even when she thought that Charlie favored Mo over herself. But when she saw Olivia White lying on the ground, her skin as white as winter snow, the tears just started pouring out, and she couldn't stop. A little girl sat over her, her body crouched over Olivia almost protectively. Dark hair was plastered against the girl's back, and different cuts and scars decorated her face, some healing and some looked fresh. Dirt was smeared across her face as if she had been sleeping, and her eyes were red rimmed. She stared at Stella with green eyes that almost scared the hell out of her. They seemed almost witch like.

She looked back down at the body beside the girl. It was Olivia, she knew for sure. The other body had just been a look alike. She thought even more. Was the body that they had seen….Ciara? That was what that crazy guy had kept on calling Olivia. The girl looked a bit afraid when she saw Stella, not angry or upset like Stella would've imagined. How did Olivia know this child?

Charlie was here now, and had an arm around Stella, staring as well. His gaze seemed to be calculating something, not somewhat excited, as Stella was. Stella whirled around; about to throw her arms around Wen, who she had guessed would be here by now. Stella didn't know if Olivia was dead or not, but she chose to believe that she was alive at the moment. A smile spread across her face as tears rolled down her cheeks along with the rain that didn't seem to stop falling, but the smile disappeared as soon as she saw the scene before her.

Scott was holding Wen's arms behind his back as he pressed a pistol to Wen's temple. Stella held her breath and she couldn't believe what Scott was doing, but she had always had a feeling deep down that there was _something _wrong with the bastard.

Mo was on the ground next to him. Stella's eyes widened in fear that her friend had already been shot, but Wen shook his head ever so slightly, reading Stella's expression. "No," He mouthed. Stella allowed herself to exhale as Charlie tightened his grip around her shoulders. "What the hell is going on, Pickett?" Charlie asked in a wary voice. Scott laughed like the villains always did in old cartoons. Stella almost rolled her eyes. Did people really still do that?

"Where's the cash?" Scott asked. Stella was confused, and after sharing a look with Charlie, she saw that he was as well. Scott laughed again, but he sounded aggravated. "Don't act like you don't understand what I am saying. You received a text that said that if you wanted Olivia back you needed cash, right? Yeah. Give it to me." The last part sounded deadly. Stella's eyes widened. "That was _you_?" She asked. Of course, she hadn't thought that Scott hadn't changed into the goody-goody that Mo always said that he had, but Stella had never imagined that he would do something like this…

"Of course not, you dumbass. That was my step-sister, Debby. She's in on this, too." He leaned over so that the little girl who was with Olivia could see him. Charlie would have told him off if he wasn't so focused on understanding what Scott was saying. "Debby hooked up with Adam cause he was retarded; messed up after some divorce. He had a kid…. He pretty much did whatever Deb asked. I received a text message from Debby that said Olivia and Anna were planning to escape, so I had to do something about it. It was Debby who killed Ciara, hid her body away. I just dragged it out close by you guys so that you would see it. She really does look like Olivia, doesn't she, Wen?" He asked, pushing the gun father into Wen's temple.

Stella thought she heard Wen growl, but it wouldn't have been so far-fetched if he had. He tried to break away from Scott's grip, but Scott whacked him across the face with the pistol. "STUPID!" He screamed. Wen had his face turned towards the ground in pain, so none of us could see his face. It had already been hard enough to see everyone in the dark. Stella had no idea what time it was; everything was dragging out. "Why would you do that, Scott?" Mo asked, leaning up off of the ground.

Scott stared at her; a look filled with venom and disgust as if she had done the same thing that he had. "Money, babe, money." Mo shook her head at him, her eyes filled with pain. "So you have been lying to us – to me, this whole time?" She asked softly. Scott shrugged, one of his arms choke holding Wen around his neck. "I lie about a lot of things. That I care about you, that I didn't know where Olivia was…that I'm a senior." He smirked. Charlie looked confused. "You aren't a senior?"

Scott laughed. "Not in high school. Why the hell do you think that you never see me in any of your classes?" He shook his head. "You all are so stupid." He scoffed, and then tightened his grip around Wen's neck. "So, no one has the money?" None of us answered. The Anna girl hugged herself for comfort. Scott shrugged. "Okay, I'll let you guys choose." Without breaking his grip on Wen he pointed the gun towards Olivia and the girl. "Livy, or lover boy here?" The gun was pointed back at Wen.

Wen had taken a bullet for Olivia before and Stella had no doubt that he would do it again, but there was a chance that Olivia wasn't alive. And if she wasn't, then Wen would be giving his life up for nothing. But if she was alive, then Stella had no idea what to do. Of course she couldn't choose between two of her friends. "I pick Wen," Mo whispered almost instantly. Wen glared at her, betrayed. Stella felt the same way, but then asked what Stella and Charlie picked. It was the way she asked. She pointed four fingers at them, one of the signs that they used when they were on stage and performing. Scott had never learned them, because these were the signs they used when they were performing without Scott.

Four fingers: Wait. I wanna make the big finish.

_What the hell was Mo trying to do?_

Charlie understood the sign, but his eyebrows were scrunched up in confusion. He didn't understand what Mo meant, and neither did Stella. Wen saw the sign, too, and his expression softened. He understood what Mo was trying to do, but Charlie and Stella didn't. "Well?" Mo asked, and that was when they saw the next sign. She twirled her finger in a circular motion once, and then poked her chin.

_Back me up when I give the sign._

All Stella could think was that when Olivia and Wen decided to make up these signs, it was a damn great idea.

Charlie made a sign before he spoke – _Sorry, I messed a note up. _Stella guessed that it was just supposed to mean sorry this time. "I pick Wen, too." Stella nodded, not trusting herself to speak. She knew that she might just break down into tears again. Avril, on the other hand, had no idea what was going on, and stared at the group, not believing their decision. How could they offer up one of their friends to be killed, just like that?

Wen tried to struggle against Scott again, but he froze when he pulled the trigger. We all froze. How was Mo gonna fix this now?

It was one swift movement; very quick: Mo swung a giant branch from a tree at Scott's legs, knocking him to the ground. The gun fired, but Wen was already on the ground, rolling away and pulling Mo with him.

Charlie ran right over to them, but Stella was still, looking Scott over before running over to check his pulse. "Charlie, I don't feel it," She whispered. Wen crawled over to where she sat, and they both stared at Scott's dead body staring up at him. Wen pulled his jacket off and draped it over Scott's face. Mo crawled over as well, and Stella watched as tears rolled down her cheeks. "Who would've thought…?" Her voice trailed off. Wen placed his arm around her. "Thank you," He said; his voice barely a whisper. For a moment they all sat there, staring into space, but then Stella remembered Olivia and the girl.

She slowly got up and walked towards them. The girl leaned away from her for a second, but slowly a smile spread across her face. "Stella?" She asked as if they were old friends. Stella didn't know what to say, so she just nodded. Avril smiled even wider and threw her arms around Stella's neck. She was surprised at first, but then she wrapped her arms around the girl.

The girl pulled away from Stella when Mo walked over. "Who –" She didn't let Mo finished her question. "Hi, I'm Avril. How do I know Olivia? Long story. Look, you're the one that wants to be the doctor, right? Well, fix her!" Avril motioned to Olivia. Wen's mouth gaped open as he stared at his girlfriend, mangled and broken.

Mo stared at Olivia. "I don't know what to do. She isn't getting enough oxygen. We need an ambulance or something," She said frantically, turning to Wen. He nodded quickly pulling put his cell phone.

**Stella POV**

"Somebody bring me a blanket and some water!" The medic shouted, and people came running from all directions over to him immediately. They had arrived in ten minutes straight when they heard everything that had happened. I don't think that I had ever heard Wen speak so quickly before.

The first thing that the doctor man did wad check for a pulse as someone else listened to her heartbeat. I felt kind of stupid just standing there; the four of us huddled together. They weren't going to give us checkups out her because not of us were seriously injured, but they had gotten to work on Olivia immediately. They would've started with the girl, Avril, as well, but she wouldn't leave Wen's arms. He had wrapped her in his sweatshirt as he was wrapped in one of the blankets that the hospital had sent. We sat under a tent like thing, shielding us from rain. There was a helicopter here and everything.

They had brought Wen's and Mo's father's, Charlie's older brother, and my mother in a separate helicopter. Olivia's Gram was waiting at the nearest hospital. Our parents probably wanted to chew us out for running away to look for Olivia when we weren't supposed to, but no one said anything. There were too many hugs and kisses for there to be punishments.

I leaned in to hear more of what they were saying. "She's not getting enough oxygen. Do you have a bag valve mask in your bag?" I couldn't hear what came after that, but they started pulling a bunch of stuff out of bags. Then Olivia started shaking uncontrollably.

One of the doctors working on Olivia barking out orders around us as Wen and Avril jumped up. "You! Come here now!" he yelled at a man in an EMS uniform. The man rushed over quickly. He was clearly running this show. "Wen!" he barked. "Does your girlfriend h_ave a history of seizures?"_

"No!" Wen answered quickly. How did he know that? The man nodded once. "Alright, then we're treating this as a febrile seizure." We watched as they started working on her, faster this time. My mother smoothed some hair out of my face and kissed my forehead. No one had asked a thing about Avril – yet.

Come on, Liv. I know you can do this.

Finally, we could see air filling her lungs, as her chest rose with each breath that they gave her. Her eyes flew open and began darting to each of us. Her hands twitched at her sides, but she was too weak to move. Wen tried to run towards her, but they pulled him back. Olivia's eyes widened at the sight of us. They covered her face as they crowded around her to work on her again. Just how bad was she?

The adults were talking again, Styrofoam cups of coffee in everyone's hands. We all had hot chocolate, but none of us had touched it except for Avril, who noisily slurped away as she snuggled deeper into Wen's arms. His dad had given him a questioning glance, but Wen just shrugged. "Where's the nearest hospital?" His dad was asking, eying the wound up by Wen's temple, and then Avril. Avril was small, and really lite, and Wen described her. Too lite to be a twelve year old. She was tall, but skinny.

Her leg had been bleeding before, but it stopped now. She was covered in Wen's sweatshirt, so no one could see if she was hurt anywhere else. All you could see where the scars covering her face

"Mercy Hospital. The chopper can land there. They've already been called. They're awaiting our arrival." Mo's dad answered. I wondered how he knew so much, but then I remembered that he was _Mo's dad_. If there was something to know about his daughter, he was going to be the first one to know it.

We sat waiting for a few more moments while the paramedics worked on Olivia. Wen wouldn't take his eyes off of her. God, we were all going to be in therapy forever.

"Alright, it's flushed. Attach the bag and get her fluids started. I injured at least two ribs that I could tell when I was administering the CPR, so be mindful of that when we move her." I heard someone say. Wait, what? She had injured ribs? I hoped Pickett burned in hell. The paramedics worked in tandem together, moving her over to the stretcher carefully, the EMT continuing the oxygen as he walked beside our little group as they carried her through the woods towards one of the helicopters. I think that there were three here, but I wasn't so sure.

Now that Olivia was all taken care of, everyone moved on to Avril. I'm serious; everyone actually turned their heads and started staring at her almost as soon as Olivia was shipped out. She wouldn't take her head out of Wen's chest, where she was snuggling. "Hey, are you okay?" He asked her in a whisper. She nodded into his chest. "Yeah. My throat's sore from all of the smoke, but I'm good. Tired." She mumbled. Then she sat up. "But we gotta get to the hospital so that we can see Olivia." She remembered, her head snapping up.

Those were two things that we knew Avril and Wen shared in common so far: They both had red hair, and were obsessed with Olivia.

Wen's father cleared his throat. "Um, Avril," He started, stumbling over the girl's name, "When we get to the hospital we're going to have to get you checked out, okay?" He asked, studying the girl's face. My mother nodded. "Yes, that is a good idea. And then maybe someone could talk to you, if you're feeling up to it. About while you were gone, you know?" I nudged my mother. Of course she didn't want to talk to anyone. We didn't want to talk to anyone the day that Olivia was taken, either.

Avril shook her head, her arms tightening around Wen's neck. He winced for a moment, but brushed it off. Avril wouldn't have known that Adam shot him just a few weeks ago. She didn't mean to pull so hard. "No, I want to see Olivia. I'm fine; Livy took care of me."

Mo was hugging her father, not saying anything. I was sure that she was probably still freaked out about what had just happened, but she was brave. She saved Wen, and probably the rest of us as well. I spoke up. "The doctor will probably just wanna look you over once, Avril. We're all going to have to get checked out." I added, eyeing Mo's ankle and Wen's head. Avril shrugged, which everyone took as a yes.

We started to walk to the last chopper line up, while our parents went in a different one. Charlie still had his arm around me, which, because no one was pointing a gun at us at the moment, made me feel butterflies in my stomach. I smiled at him, and he stuck his tongue out at me playfully. Glad to see that some things never change. "We'll see you at the hospital!" Wen's dad yelled over the roar of the engines. Wen turned around and nodded, Avril still in his arms. She had some makeshift bag in her hands that she refused to give up, and I dangled over Wen's shoulder as he walked to the helicopter.

We all squished into the seats. Apparently this was a pretty large helicopter, but it still took some squeezing for us all to fit, including the guy who was piloting the helicopter. We all had headphones over our ears, and then the pilot took off. I probably would've enjoyed this ride, but I just felt so shaken. It was an interesting feeling, to know that Olivia was back. I sighed as I snuggled into Charlie's arms. Mo stared at us, looking heartbroken. I felt bad about Scott. Even if he was an asshole who deserved to die, I knew that Mo would miss him.

The ride took less than fifteen minutes, and there was an emergency team on the roof awaiting our arrival. "This is _so freaking cool_._" _Avril breathed, staring. Even after everything that had just happened, we all still had to agree with her. This was like something out of a movie, something you would see on Law and Order or something like that.

"Blood pressure is eighty-five over fifty. Temp down to 104. Possible febrile seizure on scene treated with one mg Rivotril. CPR administered, defibrillation, epinephrine, and breathing tube to clear a blocked airway. Severely dehydrated, given one bag of D5W on scene, still administering. May have suffered major blood loss, type O-neg needed. I think she might be going into sepsis." One of the doctors explained to one of the guys on the roof.

The bad thing about these shows, however, was that I never knew what the heck was going on.

The attending nodded, as they took over the oxygen mask and began wheeling Bella's stretcher towards the roof elevator. Wen looked like he wanted to run after her, but he had Avril. Besides, Olivia was here. He had found her. Now he just needed a minute to breathe.

Sighing, he rubbed his face as the medical team disappeared behind the elevator doors. "More waiting," he moaned. We followed downstairs, and I took in a gulp of air knowing that I was in the safety of the hospital. My mother and father were there, as well as the twins. You don't know how freaking long hugs lasted this time. Wen had to put Avril down so that he could go to his own family, but I picked her up a little after that. Wen was right; for a twelve year old, she didn't weigh much.

Olivia's Gram looked as worried as hell. We explained to her as much as we could, but Avril wouldn't say anything. I imagine that it would be hard to talk about something like that.

After a few minutes, Olivia's Gram turned to one of the doctors. "Do you have any idea what all they've got to do before I know something?" She asked in a worried voice, her hands shaking. Poor old woman. The doctor opened his mouth to explain, and everyone leaned forward, but he stopped when he saw what was going on with me.

I didn't think that I did anything wrong. I mean, okay, what would you do if some crazy ass nurse walked up to you and tried to pull Avril out of your arms? That was what happened to me, and I wasn't happy about it. No, no, Stella Yamada wasn't happy with the service at that hospital.

"Um, yeah, hello. Can I ask you what the fuck you think you are doing?" My mother's eyes widened at my language and she and my father placed their hands over the twins' ears, as Sydney did with Georgie.

The nurse also looked a little surprised with my language, but I honestly didn't give a damn. This was Wen in the hospital all over again. "I'm just trying to place her on a stretcher so we can take her downstairs to have her examined. By the looks of it, you aren't her legal guardian anyway, so we should be able to take her."

I was trying to control my temper, but really, why do people decide to become nurses if they are going to act like that. People are already messed up when they enter the hospital, and with her attitude people would come out needed therapy. "Look, this girl was just found in the woods along with Olivia, and I feel it would be wrong to just rip her away from us like that." Wen's dad pointed out. The nurse rolled her eyes, pursed her weathered lips at me and scoffed, but turned on her heel for the elevator. Wen, Mo, and Charlie followed while our parents took another elevator. Olivia's Gram was in our elevator with us.

"So, um, doctor? About Olivia?" Gram asked. That snapped me out of my glaring contest with the nurse. "Oh, yes, Mrs. White. First they're going to take her downstairs and hook her up to an EKG. They need to get a read on her blood pressure, pulse, and they'll most likely attach her to a ventilator to keep her oxygen level up for now. I don't think there's anything wrong with her lungs, because she would have been much worse off in the woods if that were the case, but I can't make any promises without seeing a scan first.

"When they catheterize her, they'll test her urine for bacteria and cultures, and they'll draw blood from her IV and run that off to their lab. While they wait to get the results, they'll probably run a CT scan to check her for any internal bleeding, give her a head-to-toe check over. By the time the scan is finished, they should have the results back. We'll have to go from there. "The doctor explained. We all nodded, even though I suspected that none of us really had any idea of what he had said.

The elevator landed, and we walked out, following the nurse. "Well, what was that other doctor saying about a seizure?" Wen asked as we started following the nurse down a hall. Things were pretty quiet, because everyone must've been asleep. The doctor shook his head at him. "We won't really know anything until we get the lab work back. The seizure could have been a reaction to the fever she's running or any medication he could have given her-"

"He gave her a lot of medicine this one time. He threw her against a wall and she was asleep for four days, and he gave her medicine cause he thought it would make her better." Avril spoke up. Wen clenched his fists while I put Avril down. "Do you know what type of medicine he gave her?" The doctor asked, staring down at Avril. She shrugged, playing with the pillowcase bag at her side. "Little pills. He said they would help with the pain. I don't know."

CHAPTER

14

Stella woke up first. She didn't remember where she was until she had looked around the entire room, and saw Wen sleeping with Avril cuddled in his arms. She thought that they look cute. Mo wasn't in the room, and Charlie wasn't either. Stella was panicked for a moment, but remembered that the hospital was guarded by police and that everyone's parents were here. She signed and sat up in her seat. "Wen," she whispered. He didn't stir.

"Wen," She said a bit louder. Avril's eyes snapped open, but she had to shake Wen a little so that he would wake up. "Is Olivia awake yet?" He asked Stella. She shrugged. "I wouldn't know. I was sleeping in here with you guys." She explained. Wen nodded and closed her eyes again. "Maybe we can find Olivia's grandmother. She might know," Avril offered.

I looked into the hallway through the door where Charlie, Mo, and everyone's parents were standing. They all seemed to be deep in a conversation, and Charlie looked confused while Mo looked a bit more understanding. What were they talking about?

Avril knocked on the door, and everyone's heads turned towards her. She instantly turned and shrugged back into her seat, looking nervous.

Stella's eyebrows rose slightly, but she guessed that she understood. "Hey, guys, come in!" She said, taping on the door. Charlie and Mo entered first with all of the adults following. With everyone in the room it felt cramped and smaller. "What were you guys doing?" Stella mouthed. Charlie looked over at Mo and shrugged. "Tell you later," He replied.

A few seconds later a doctor came into the room, with a nurse following, wheeling in a machine. Stella tensed up almost immediately, but relaxed when she saw the face that the doctor had he stared at all of the people in it. She wanted to laugh, but decided against it.

**Stella POV**

"Hello, everyone," the doctor smiled. Everyone mumbled something different, or didn't say anything at all. Stella waved, while Avril snuggled into Wen's chest. Wen still looked out of it. "I'm Doctor Edward Guida." He announced. Mo smiled and nodded at him, but turned away after no one said anything.

He looked between Charlie, Mo, Wen, Avril and me. "Well," He looked down at his clipboard. "I came down here to give you all checkups. Let's see….." He flipped threw a few papers. "Avril? From what I have heard, you inhaled a bit of smoke. Is that true?" He asked, looking over to Avril. She nodded, her dark green eyes studying him. A huge smile grew across his face, and Stella was kind of freaked out at first. Why the hell was this doctor so happy so early in the morning? What time was it anyway?

"My friend Nurse Amy here has a game for us to play, but first, I have a question. How old are you?" He asked; a pen ready in his hand. I was guessing that no one really had any information on Avril, since we had found her in the woods. I didn't see any parents come for her, so I was beginning to wonder….

"Almost thirteen," Avril said; her voice barely a whisper. Dr. Guida nodded. "Then I think that you are old enough for our game." He said with a smile. He gestured over to the machine that the nurse was setting up. "I am going to need you to blow into this tube, and since your birthday is coming up soon, I need you to try and blow out all of the birthday candles on the screen, okay?"

Avril turned to him fully, and once Wen felt her move, he sat up as well. She nodded slowly, staring at the machine warily. I watched as the nurse made a face, and so did the doctor. Avril stopped blowing. "I only got six out, and there were thirteen." She mumbled.

We waited another ten, twenty, thirty minutes until she came back from some room that they had taken her so that she could inhale oxygen or something. Then we waited while he asked Avril a few questions, and listened to her heart, writing things down on his clipboard. He paused when he saw her ankle, and when he saw a giant gash on her arm. He smiled at her when he was finished. "Well, Avril, you sound just fine. Another doctor is going to come to look at you a little bit more." He checked the rest of us out, wincing when he saw the wound on Wen's temple, and he gave Mo some ice for her ankle.

He looked up at Wen's dad and Sydney. "If I may, I would like to speak to you two outside, as well as…" He looked back at his clipboard. "Wen, Charlie, Mohini and Stella?" He held the door open for us, and gestured for us to leave the room. My mom looked pissed that she wasn't going to be involved with this, as well as Mo's father, but you know, you can't have everything in the world that you want.

Avril perked up in her seat. "Can I see Olivia while you guys talk?" She asked. The doctor glanced at Wen's hopeful expression before smiling gently. "She isn't exactly ready for visitors yet, but I saw her grandmother waiting outside. I could send her in to stay with you if you'd like." He offered. Avril leaned back in her chair in defeat. "Whatever," She mumbled.

We walked outside of the door in a line, and I saw Olivia's gram standing outside, her hands shaking. "Avril was wondering if you could keep her company while we talk." Wen informed her without making eye contact. She nodded quickly and shuffled into the groom quickly, without a word. As soon as she was gone, Dr. Guida clapped his hands and smiled at our group.

He opened his file. "Okay, then. I have special permission from Olivia's grandmother to discuss her case with you all. Now, would you like to hear about Olivia or Avril first?" You didn't even have to look at Wen to know that he wanted to hear all about Olivia. I personally wanted to hear about Avril first, because she was the girl that we had found randomly in the woods. Wen's dad stepped in. "Which case is a more…urgent?" He asked.

The doctor paused for a moment. "I think that I should start with Olivia's case first. Her grandmother was already filled in…" He started shuffling around in his folder. I knew that Wen wanted to scream at him to hurry up, and I was kind of proud of him when he didn't.

I guessed that he had dumbed everything down for us so that we could understand a bit better. "We tested Olivia for any drugs in her system, and it seems that she was overdosed on pain medication that they must've given her. This might've been one of the reasons that she was sick when she was found in the woods." He explained. Yeah, he defiantly dumbed it down. I had seen way too many hospital soaps with Mo to believe that this was in his notes.

"She has hypothermia from being out in the rain so long, and pneumonia that could have come from anything while she was there, as well as being out in the rain. It isn't as bad as it could be, and we have God to thank for that, I guess. I suspect that Avril might have a slight cold from being out in the rain, as well. She didn't get it as bad as Olivia did.

Olivia's ankle is pretty banged up, so if she stays stable she should be in surgery in a few hours so that they can fix it, and hopefully she'll be awake later tonight or early tomorrow morning, but I am not exactly sure. I have been told that they were gone approximately nineteen days, correct?" We all nodded at the same time.

"Has she been awake since she got here?" Wen asked nervously. "Briefly, but she passed out again. She seemed pretty overwhelmed. We've already flushed out the remaining medication out of her system. She had some minor burns that we have already taken care of, and we dressed a gash in her arm. She should be home in a week or so. She'll need to have help at home, as I suspect that she'll have trouble getting around with two cracked ribs, and a broken ankle, not to mention -"

The doctor froze and stared at all of our curious faces. "What?" I asked, eager for more news. He cleared his throat. "I have two pieces of shocking news. Would you like me to tell you the first piece or second piece first?" He asked, looking anywhere but at us. "Second piece," Sydney blurted out. Wen gave her an aggravated look, but we all agreed.

Dr. Guida sighed. "Well, while I was with Avril, we ran a few tests, including a blood test. We took a sample of Olivia's blood as well as testing her, and, well… Olivia and Avril are related, we are guessing that they are sisters." He blurted out. Mo and Charlie looked confused, as did Sydney and Wen's Dad. Wen looked back into the room, at Avril chatting shyly with Olivia's gram. I was the first one to speak.

"How?" I asked. Had she always known this? The doctor looked uncomfortable. "I do not know all of the details, but I do know that they aren't half siblings; they are related by full blood." No one said anything, so he continued. "I discussed this with Mrs. White, and, well, since Olivia's mother was reportedly murdered by her husband, and that was why he was in prison, but we were discussing the possibility of the mother not being murdered, perhaps her husband took her somewhere… we are guessing that he had several mental illnesses because we don't have files on either of them, as well as Avril." He explained. I shook my head. This seemed like something that would come out of a thriller book or something.

We sat there in silence for a few moments. "From what I have heard, an investigation is beginning to figure this all out. But until then, Avril will be under the care of Mrs. White." I turned to look into the room. Avril looked slightly confused, but like she was expecting that whatever Mrs. White was telling her. I guess this was what they had been talking about.

"You think that maybe…the kidnapper could be their father?" Wen asked slowly, putting the pieces together. The doctor shrugged. "It is possible."

Wen nodded slowly as the doctor cleared his throat. "Would you like to hear the second piece of information?" He asked, sounding as if he was holding back from yelling what he wanted to say.

We all nodded warily. "Well, as we were running blood and DNA tests with Olivia and Avril, she informed me that there is a chance that…well, Olivia might be pregnant." He paused for a moment, staring at Wen. He blushed furiously when his father and Sydney turned to him. "It doesn't nessisarily mean that the child is Wen's. The child could be Adam's, even though that Avril is positive that the child is yours, Wen." He explained.

The small sliver of excitement that I had felt disappeared. "You think that he raped her?" Wen forced out, his voice sounding choked up. The doctor hesitated. "They did a rape kit on her earlier-"

**Wen POV**

All of the air flew out of me as I threw myself against the wall. He didn't have to tell me that. I can't hear this. He's still alive somewhere and I'll have to leave Olivia to go kill him.

**Stella POV**

My mouth slowly dropped open as I reached for Charlie's hand. "It was negative! Negative, I promise! The police still want to check Avril, though."

"There is no way in hell." Wen burst out. Sydney nodded. "She does not need to be put through the trauma of a vaginal exam without a cause. Have her speak to someone about the possibilities, but she really shouldn't be traumatized if it can be avoided." Mo nodded her head in agreement, and I did as well, even though I really didn't understand what would happen to Avril if they needed to run a rape kit.

The doctor narrowed his eyes; something that I thought he was incapable of. "They're concerned."

"Welcoming to the damn club!" Charlie exclaimed. That was the first time that he had opened his mouth throughout this conversation, and I have to admit that I jumped a bit.

The doctor signed. "I understand your concern, all of you. We all want what is best for Avril. Someone from the psychology unit should be down in just a moment. I think that we have covered everything, so I'll be on my way. Mrs. White and I are going to be upstairs in Olivia's room. Good Luck to you all," He smiled, and I smiled back at him. God. It must be hard to be a doctor; to break the news to everyone. How was Mo going to do it?

CHAPTER

15

**Stella POV**

"Hello, Avril! My name is Chelsea! Can I talk to for a while?" She asked, sounding way too happy. She looked around my mother's age, with brunette colored hair back in a ponytail. My mother and Mr. Banjaree had gone down to the cafeteria, and Avril was sitting in a seat in between Wen and me while Charlie and Mo sat on the other side of the room.

"So, Avril," The woman started, walking into the room. "I would like to ask you some questions, and there isn't a wrong or right answer to any of them. You won't be punished for anything that you say, okay?" She asked, bending down towards Avril, her hands on her knees. Avril nodded. "I get it. But would you please stop acting like I am five? I understand regular English, you know." She folded her arms and huffed. Wen bit his lip to keep from laughing.

The woman, or "Chelsea", as she told us her name was, looked a bit flustered as she got back up. "Oh. I'm sorry, dear." Avril nodded, and I had to resist laughing at her face. She snuggled a bit more into Wen's chest while. "Well, here is an easy one," Chelsea said, looking at a bunch of papers on her clipboard. Seriously, what was with all of the clipboards around here? They could use binders. They would be _way _more organized that way, especially since other people's lives depended on the people who worked in this place…

"What's your name?" Chelsea asked, leaning in a little too close. It was official: this woman was creepy. Why was she working in a hospital? As a _therapist_?

Avril looked over to Mo, who nodded slightly with a gentle smile. "Uh, Avril. But you should know; you just called me that." Avril pointed out. I nodded as well, confused. Mo just shook her head at the both of us while Charlie bit into a muffin.

Chelsea blushed, but didn't answer, writing something down on a pad. "Well, you've been back for a little bit. Are you glad to be back? To see your parents?" Chelsea asked. Wen looked like he wanted to punch her, as did I. why would she ask that question if she knew that Avril's parents were dead?

Avril bit her lip. "I don't have parents." She said a bit forcefully. She sounded as if she wanted to rip the lady's head off. Did I mention how much I was loving Avril?

Avril looked at a window in an odd way, like an animal locked in a cage. Her leg was bouncing up and down as she turned back to Chelsea. "Can I see Olivia now?" She asked. Chelsea shook her head as she wrote on the pad. "Not yet. They are still taking care of Olivia, and trying to make her better. Can I ask you a few more questions?" She asked. Avril shook her head, her green eyes flashing. "I want to see Olivia. If you think there is something wrong with my 'mental sanity' or whatever, maybe I am messed up. But everyone's messed up in their own special way." She argued. I sucked in a breath, wanting to laugh, even though I knew this was serious. Everyone was messed up in their own special way? So I was messed up, too?

Chelsea placed her pen down on the pad, looking pissed. "I just need to ask you a few more questions." She snapped. I didn't like that, and I was guessing that Wen didn't, either. He stood up out his chair. "Listen, she doesn't want to answer any questions…"

Five minutes later "Chelsea" was stomping down the hall. Avril would eventually have to speak to another therapist, but I think that we were all a little relived to know that we wouldn't have to speak to anyone at this exact moment.

"Stella, Stella, wake up!" I blinked my eyes several times, noticing the red hair in front of my face. "Avril?" I mumbled, sitting up and rubbing my eyes. I must've fallen asleep, _again. _Just absolutely wonderful, wasn't it?

Avril had a giant grin on her face, a beanie thrown atop her head. How did she get that? She looked better than she had before, like she had actually _slept, _or, I don't know, _eaten. _That thought relaxed me a bit. "Olivia's out of surgery!" She whispered loudly. I turned my head slightly, noticing that Charlie was asleep next to me, his head leaning on my shoulder. I chuckled, blushing a bit. Wasn't this supposed to work the other way around?

"Stella!" Avril shook me once more. My head snapped over to look at her again. "Huh, wait, what did you say?" I asked again, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes for what felt like the tenth time. "Olivia's out of surgery! We can see her now!" She practically squealed, laughter apparent in her eyes.

A huge grin broke out across my face. "Really? That's awesome! Does Wen know?" I asked, getting up out of my chair. Avril nodded, absentmindedly playing with a loose strand of her hair. "I don't know if you'll be allowed to see her. I know that Gram and I can go, because we are her family, but…" Her voice trailed off as I tried to hide my disappointment.

"Oh, that's okay. I can see her later, maybe when she is awake." I shrugged, sitting back down in my seat. Instead of walking out of the door like I expected her to, Avril bent down in front of me. "So, I heard some police officer's talking about me and Liv." She whispered, her eyes darting around as if someone would jump up and tell her that she wasn't allowed to speak about this with me.

My eyebrows rose slightly. "What did you hear?"

Avril looked uncomfortable for a moment before answering. "They said that they think my mom is still out there somewhere, that Olivia and I are defiantly sisters. That our Dad might have had some sickness that made him act all crazy and weird. They want to ask me questions, and ask Olivia stuff too, because they don't have too much evidence yet." She explained.

I stared at her, my eyes not blinking, as if I couldn't comprehend. Avril nodded, as if she were reading my mind. "I think that it is pretty weird. I mean, I don't really remember my mom…" Her voice trailed off as she got a faraway look in her eye. "Or do I?" She spoke softly to herself.

I shook my head. "They can't just wait for her to wake up and then pelt her with a bunch of questions that she probably won't even know the answers to. She's gonna be freaked out." I said; my knuckles cracking as I made tight fists.

Avril eyed my fists, placing a gentle hand over them. "They can talk to me. I'll probably remember a thing or two." She stood up and brushed her hand on the pair of jeans that Mrs. White had bought for her. "Now, where is that Chelsea chick? Or, can I just talk to a cop? I would like that way better..."

CHAPTER

16

"What do your Dad and Sydney want to do about Olivia being pregnant?" Mo asked, hoping that she wouldn't offend her taller friend. Wen shrugged, looking down and scratching his head. "The doctors don't know if the baby will survive or not. They tried to be careful of it while they were operating on Olivia, but that is pretty much it." Wen explained.

Mo felt a lump in her throat. After everything Olivia went through, there was a possibility that she could lose her baby? Without even knowing the child? Mo felt as if she would die if something like that happened to her.

"I'm sure that the baby will be fine." Mo tried to reassure Wen, but her voice wavered. Wen looked up and smiled at her. "Thanks, Mo. You really are a great friend."

"Olivia? Are you awake?" Avril asked in a hushed tone of voice, walking into the room slowly, being careful not to let the door slam behind herself. To her delight, Olivia sat propped up in the bed, staring at Avril with a smile. "Hey," She croaked, her smile growing wider. "You're okay!"

Avril's eyes quickly swept over Olivia's body – bandages wrapped everywhere, her ankle wrapped in gaze and a cast, held up towards the ceiling. There were some cuts on Olivia's face, and her arm had the most bandages, blood already seeping through. Avril guess that it wasn't the first batch of bandages that had been placed on Olivia's wounds.

"And you…" Avril's voice trailed off as Olivia chuckled. "Yeah, I'm a mess." Avril winced at the gravely sound of Olivia's voice. "Does it hurt to talk?" She asked. Olivia shrugged, or at least attempted to. Avril noticed that she winced in pain as she tried to move her shoulders. "Kind of," Olivia whispered. Avril wanted to roll her eyes. "Then why are you speaking?" She asked incredulously.

Olivia giggled. "I missed you." She tried to laugh again, but began choking on a bunch of loud, wet coughs. Avril winced once more and decided to change the subject. She wasn't used to people caring about her this way. "Did Gram come in to see you?" She asked.

Olivia nodded. "She explained." She said simply. Avril nodded. "Kind of freaky, huh?" She asked. Olivia smiled. "But at least I have a sister! This is like, the coolest thing ever!" She whispered. Avril smiled before she could help herself, but the smile quickly disappeared. "But that means that we killed our Dad." She said with a grimace.

Olivia stared off into space, looking as if she were in a trance. Avril noticed that her blonde hair hung lip around her shoulders, her face pale. Her eyes traveled down to the IV drip in Olivia's arm and she winced. Avril knew that she herself hated needles.

Olivia finally spoke. "He wasn't really a father. He didn't treat us like daughters, so he wasn't a father, you know?" She asked, looking at Avril intently. Avril shrugged, sitting down in the chair across from Olivia's bed.

"So we have the same mother?" Olivia finally brought up. Avril nodded slowly. Olivia turned back towards the door as if she expected someone to walk in randomly. "I thought that my mother died when I was four years old." She explained quietly, looking away. Avril could see tears in her eyes. "Dad and Mom..." She started. Olivia looked at her expectantly as Avril sighed. "Look, if I tell you what I know, you have to believe me, okay?" She asked.

Olivia nodded, looking a bit confused. "I don't think that you would lie about something like this." She pointed out. I took a deep breath. "Mom said that she got a divorce with Dad when you were little, because he was always out late and drinking or something. She was pregnant with me, but she didn't tell Dad, because she though he didn't know. She moved with you into Gram's house, and one day she went out to look for houses.

Dad was following her, and he knocked her out, took her into a van, and drove off with her." Avril paused, looking up at Olivia briefly. Olivia was biting her lip, looking down at the sheets on her hospital bed. Avril continued. "Mom said that he took her car and set it on fire, leaving it on the side of the road so that it would look like something happened. He drove her up to Maine, where I was born. He was crazy. Locked Mom up in the house with me. When I got older, though, maybe five or six, she snuck out and took me with her. We went to New York. It is so busy there; she didn't think that he would find us.

"She used to talk about you all of the time, Livy." Avril paused, and noticed the tears following out of Olivia's eyes, freely, without her caring. "Olivia, I didn't want to make you cry." She whispered, feeling guilty. Avril paused. "You're heart rate will go bad, Liv. You have to stop."

Olivia began to sniffle and cough, trying to get herself to stop. "Maybe I should just go, leave you alone. You just got out of surgery a few hours ago; you should sleep." Avril suggested, getting up out of her seat. Olivia shook her head. "No. Stay." She mumbled in between coughs.

Avril bit her lip, sitting back down. "What happened after?" Olivia asked, her voice sounding worse. Avril sighed. "We lived in the city for a long time, until I was nine and a half. Mom always worked extra so that we could get tickets to move and find Gram and you. She searched through phone books all of the time, trying to find you guys, but it was never you. Then one day Mom was going to work and she left me with a babysitter." She paused; not wanting to remember these thoughts.

"Go on," Olivia said after a long pause had gone by. "Dad broke in while I was in my room. He…hurt the babysitter, and he took me away." She whispered.

Olivia had the hand that wasn't injured over her mouth. "Oh, God," She mumbled into her hand. Avril nodded. "I know it sounds pretty farfetched and everything…" Olivia shook her head.

"Thanks for telling me, Avril." She smiled. Avril shrugged. "Well, we are sisters, now, right?"

CHAPTER

17

Olivia stabbed her spoon into her oatmeal, glaring into the small cardboard cup miserably. of course, she should be happy that her doctor said that she was allowed to actually eat now, instead of having stuff pumped into her through the tubes stuck into her arms, but she longed to eat something _real, solid _like… a hamburger!

She sighed, placing the oatmeal on the small table next to her hospital bed, glancing up at the clock above the brown door at the end of the hospital room. Thank goodness Olivia didn't have to share a room with anyone, but she often became lonely… and oh, the nightmares! The nightmares were what Olivia couldn't take.

It was ten twenty seven, and her visitors would be arriving soon. Olivia's doctor had told her that she would be able to leave in a day or two, but would have to return to her local doctor for an ultrasound. This Olivia was excited about; learning more about her baby and if the child would be okay after the stress that she had endured. After a few checkups her doctor had confirmed that the child was still there, but nothing much after that.

The minute hand on the clock ticked to the right. Ten twenty eight. Another sigh escaped Olivia's mouth. Things were so complicated now. Just a few weeks ago Olivia had been a regular teenager (except for the fact that the band that she was in was rising in the road to fame), who hung out with her four best friends and lived with her Grandmother. Now she was finding out that there was a chance that her mother might still be alive, and that she had killed her father, who must've been crazy. It was so much to take in.

Ten twenty nine. Olivia stared into space, imagining little ginger headed babies. Of course, she wanted her unborn child to have Wen's strawberry blonde colored hair. She was beginning to grow tired of her own blonde hair, which hung around her shoulders, a little longer than it had been since the last time that Lemonade Mouth had performed together.

"Hey, look who's up!" Stella exclaimed, carefully opening the door and letting herself in. Olivia couldn't help the enormous grin that broke out on her face as Charlie, Mo, Wen and Avril all filed in behind her. Olivia was happy to see that everyone had left the hospital last night-well; at least it looked that way. Everyone wore different clothing than they had worn the previous day, at least, which was good enough for Olivia. It annoyed her when she found out that her friends and younger sister (she still couldn't believe it) were spending the night at the hospital, so she had begun to lecture them about going a hotel, and it seemed to be working.

"Hey, guys!" Olivia greeted in her only slightly hoarse voice, which was sounding much better than it had a few mornings ago. Greetings were exchanged as everyone took their respective seats in either their chairs or on Olivia's bed, which was reserved for Wen and Avril.

"So, you excited to come home tomorrow?" Avril asked, a black fedora atop her head and her cheeks glowing a light pink. It was amazing what just a few days with Gram could do with this child. Olivia smiled and nodded, but her brow furrowed when Wen threw Avril a glare, who looked sheepish. "What?" She asked, not wanting to be left out.

Wen shook his head. "It's nothing, except, you know, my dad, Sydney, and your Gram decided that we decided that you guys can come and stay with us for a while." He explained nonchalantly, a small smile on his face. Olivia's mouth gazed open. "Close your mouth, Liv, you'll catch flies." Mo admonished, giggling.

"But we couldn't take advantage of you like that at all…" Olivia began, but Wen cut her off. "We have way more room than we need for four people in our house, and the doctor said that you're going to need some…_help_ after you leave." He explained. Olivia shook her head with a smile on her face, and Wen knew that he had won. "Besides, Wen will be closer to the baby that way." Charlie added.

Avril bit her lip as she saw the quick pain flash in Olivia's eyes, a similar look in Wen's eyes. She knew that there would be a chance that the baby might not survive, though no one had mentioned it. Olivia nodded slowly, blinking back tears. "That's true." She whispered.

Charlie nodded, noticing the sudden change in Olivia's attitude. "Well, okay then." Stella clapped her hands together, changing the subject at the right time as she always seemed cable to do. "You know that the cops are looking into that case with your mom, right?" She asked, turning to Olivia and Avril.

Olivia nodded. "They're looking for her." She said simply. Stella nodded, abandoning the subject. Avril spoke up. "She's alive. I know that she is. I mean, I can feel it." She explained. Mo nodded, rubbing Avril's back. "It's good to have faith, Avril. Never lose hope."

Avril nodded, blinking quickly a few times. "That's how you guys became Lemonade Mouth, right?" She asked. The band shared knowing looks with each other before beginning the story of their band for Avril, for the tenth time that week.

"And you just spit it _all _over him?"

"Yeah, I told you. Besides, he was being an asshole to your sister, and he deserved it."

"That's true, but must you use that language?"

"Come on, Mo, I'm not five, and I've heard worse."

"I was lucky to have friends like these guys when Ray was around."

"You know it, Livy!"

"And all in all, I don't really think Scott was that bad. Maybe he was confused. I don't know."

"_What? _He was a crazy asshole, and you know it! Do you remember what he did to you, Olivia? To you and your sister? God!"

"Wen, I realize that-"

"He always did freak me out."

"Well, because he was always hanging out with Ray, Charlie. You never liked Ray, did you?"

"Ray wasn't that bad."

"Oh, of course you would say that, Stella."

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing, guys, don't fight. I don't like seeing you fight. What happened to telling me about how Lemonade Mouth formed?"

"In a second, Avril. I'm just saying that I don't think that he deserved to _die. _I wouldn't wish that on anyone. And…he probably just wanted friends. Ray wasn't a real friend to him."

"Livy, honey, he'll have lots of nice friends in hell."

"Wen! Don't say such horrible things!"

Olivia almost slammed her head into Wen's; she sat up in the hospital bed so quickly. "Liv?" Wen asked in a soft voice. "Wen? What are you doing here? I thought that I told you to go back to the hotel!" Olivia whisper-yelled. Wen chuckled. "Yeah. That was going to happen. You're leaving tomorrow, yeah, but I couldn't stand to be a minute away from you any longer." He whispered, stroking Olivia's hair.

Olivia stared into his eyes for a moment before looking away. She felt Wen's hand in hers. "Nightmare?"

Olivia nodded, not trusting herself to speak. Wen moved from the chair that he had been sitting in to Olivia's bed, pulling his girlfriend into hug. "Livy, you're safe now, with us. Avril is here, your Gram is here, and," Wen moved one of his hands down to Olivia's stomach. "I'm as sure as hell there is a baby in there."

Olivia smiled, tears forming in her eyes. "Please don't leave me." She whispered. Wen shook his head, climbing onto the bed and trying to position his tall body next to Olivia's shorter one. "Never."

Olivia couldn't help feeling at least a little overwhelmed as everyone's families crowded into her room. Stella's little brothers had made her an amp for her guitar out of some sort of material that she couldn't remember. Olivia mentally kicked herself for forgetting. The twins had seemed so proud and happy that Olivia was coming back. Georgie had made a picture of her family, featuring Olivia and Avril, who would become her older sisters, and her little ginger headed niece, who stood in the middle of Wen and Olivia.

The picture made Olivia smile, but also brought tears to her eyes. She had thanked Georgie sincerely. Mo's mother and father were there, as well as Stella's mother, and Charlie's older brother. Of course, there was Wen's father and Sydney, as well as Avril and Gram. Olivia was finding that it was becoming harder to breathe, but she was enjoying having her family around regardless.

Olivia watched in amusement as Dr. Guida made his way into the room, stopping in front of Olivia's hospital bed. "Well," He started, taking a good look around. "It looks like we have quite the audience." He announced, to which laughter was heard. "Alright, Olivia, I can _see _that you're glad to go home today." He said with a smile.

"We're taking one last blood and urine sample, and we'll be checking your weight once more as well to complete your chart for your future doctor. I'm glad to say that you have successfully been weaned off of your medication addiction." He announced proudly. "How are you feeling?"

Olivia looked around at all of her loved ones in the room, smiling a bit. "Great, I mean, better that everyone is here and we are all safe. But I'm a little jittery. I really want to get out of here. No offence." Olivia added, quickly, hoping that she wouldn't offend her doctor, who she had become great friends with.

The doctor chuckled, as did everyone else in the room. Dr. Guida took his clipboard and began flipping through papers. "Well, I'm leaving the decision of an anti-depressant up to you and your usual doctor, but sending you home with a couple prescriptions. Someone in your family can get the prescriptions filled at the pharmacy downstairs before you are released." He read from the chart.

Olivia tried to pay attention, but all she could think about was running outside into the fresh air and sunshine, singing her heart out, completely forgetting her father and Scott and…

"I am proud to tell you that you gained approximately three and a half pounds, and your urine and blood samples are clear of infection, so you are free to go. I would like to tell you that I think that you are a wonderful young woman, and as your doctor and a fan of your band, I am proud of all of you." Dr. Guida announced to the room after an hour or so.

Olivia smiled at him, fighting back tears. Oh, stupid mood swings. Mo helped Olivia get into a pair of sweatpants, red and black converse that Avril picked out (that looked ironically similar to _her_ new sneakers.), a question authority t-shirt from Stella, and a New Mexico sweatshirt. Finally, Olivia was going home. Looking up at Wen, looking so sweet and strong next to her, holding her hand, and the rest of the band, her best friends, their arms all linked together, and her little sister, the purple she had decided to wear dolloped on her head, looking as happy as ever, Olivia knew that everything was going to be okay. The nightmares might still haunt her, but she had people to help, as well as people to take care of. Suddenly, she let herself break into song, not caring who heard her or what anyone thought.

_Let the music groove you_

_Let the melody move you_

_Feel the beat and just let go_

_Get the rhythm into your soul_

_Let the music take you_

_Anywhere it wants to_

_When we're stuck and can't get free_

_No matter what, we'll still be singing_

_Come on, come on_

_Turn up the music_

_It's all we got_

_We're gonna use it_

_Come on, come on_

_Turn up the music_

_Yeah_

_**Epilogue**_

"So, everything is okay?" Wen asked once more, his arm wrapped around Olivia protectively. Their doctor laughed quietly, nodding her head and flipping through the papers. "Yes, everything is fine. The babies are growing correctly, and everything seems to be normal. I can tell that you two are going to be great parents." The doctor smiled.

Olivia looked up at Wen with a smug smile on her face, wrapping her arms around her now noticeable baby bump. Wen opened his mouth as if to say something, then hesitated, looking back over to the doctor. "Wait a second. Did you say _babies? _As in, like, _plural?_"

Olivia's mouth opened as well, and she glanced down at her stomach as the doctor slowly smiled and nodded her head.


End file.
